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GENERAL  CUSTER  AND  HIS  SCOUTS.  [Fage  218. 


FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON 


BY 


ELIZABETU  B.  CUSTER 

AUTHOB  OP   "BOOTS  AKD  SADDLES"  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

1890 


C3S 


Copyright,  1890,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 
All  rights  reserved. 


u.  c. 

APAOKMY    OF 

j,p»C  COAST 
HISTORY 


TO 


ONE  WHO  HAS  FOLLOWED  THE  GUIDON 

INTO  THAT  BEALM  WHERE 

**TJie  war  drum  throbs  no  longer 
And   the  battle -flags  are  furled.** 


PREFACE 


Before  beginning  the  story  of  our  summer's  camp  on 
Big  Creek,  Kansas,  I  should  like  to  make  our  bugle  a  more 
familiar  friend  to  those  who  know  it  only  by  hearsay.  It 
was  the  hourly  monitor  of  the  cavalry  corps.  It  told  us 
when  to  eat,  to  sleep,  to  march,  and  to  go  to  church.  Its 
clear  tones  reminded  us,  should  there  be  physical  ailments, 
that  we  must  go  to  the  doctor,  and  if  the  lazy  soldier  was 
disposed  to  lounge  about  the  company's  barracks,  or  his  in- 
dolent oflBcer  to  loll  his  life  away  in  a  hammock  on  the  gal- 
lery of  his  quarters,  the  bugle's  sharp  call  summoned  him  to 
"  drill "  or  "  dress  parade."  It  was  the  enemy  of  ease,  and 
cut  short  many  a  blissful  hour.  The  very  night  was  invaded 
by  its  clarion  notes  if  there  chanced  to  be  fire,  or  should 
Indians  steal  a  march  on  us,  or  deserters  be  discovered  de- 
camping. We  needed  timepieces  only  when  absent  from 
garrison  or  camp.  The  never  tardy  sound  calling  to  duty 
was  better  than  any  clock,  and  brought  us  up  standing ;  and 
instead  of  the  usual  remark, "  Why,  here  it's  four  o'clock  al- 
ready !"  we  found  ourselves  saying :  "  Can  it  be  possible  ? 
There's  '  Stables,'  and  where  has  the  day  gone  ?" 

The  horses  knew  the  calls,  and  returned  from  grazing  of 
their  own  accord  at  "  Recall  "  before  any  trooper  had  started  ; 
and  one  of  them  would  resume  his  place  in  the  ranks,  and 
obey  the  bugle's  directions  as  nonchalantly  as  if  the  moment 
before  he  had  not  lifted  a  recruit  over  his  head  and  depos- 
ited him  on  the  ground. 

The  horses  were  often  better  tacticians  than  the  soldiers, 


VI  PREFACE. 

for  it  frequently  happened  that  one  of  them  had  served  our 
country  through  one  enlistment  of  five  years,  and  was  well  on 
through  another  when  assigned  to  a  recruit  who  had  never 
before  mounted.  The  intelligent  beast,  feeling  himself  in- 
sulted by  being  called  upon  to  carry  a  green  trooper,  seemed 
in  very  scorn  to  empty  the  saddle.  I  sometimes  thought 
the  wise  animals  thus  disposed  of  their  riders  and  went  back 
to  the  line,  as  if  to  say,  "  I'll  teach  that  greenhorn  that  I 
know  military  life  better  than  he  does." 

In  large  posts,  like  Fort  Leavenworth  or  Fort  Lincoln, 
there  was  a  corps  of  trained  buglers,  and  it  was  a  surprise 
to  strangers  that  such  good  music  could  be  evolved  from  in- 
struments with  so  few  notes.  On  a  summer's  day  the  sound 
of  the  buglers  came  wafted  to  us  from  some  divide  over  the 
plain,  where  they  had  gone  to  practise,  and  hoped  to  deaden 
the  sound.  Though  the  bugles  might  blow,  they  could  not 
"  set  the  wild  echoes  flying  "  out  there,  for  we  had  neither 
the  rocky  fastness  nor  the  hill  and  dale  of  Scotland  or  Switz- 
erland. I  should  have  liked  to  transport  a  band  of  our 
drilled  buglers  to  the  land  of  Roderick  Dhu.  The  clans 
could  have  been  summoned  for  miles  by  the  clear  reverber- 
ating notes,  and  there  the  stirring  music,  reproduced  by  en- 
chanting echoes,  would  have  been  far  finer  than  on  our  mo- 
notonous plains. 

In  the  telling  of  this  story  of  our  summer's  camp  there  is 
often  reference  to  both  the  trumpet  and  the  bugle.  When 
I  was  first  in  the  army  the  bugle  was  used  for  the  infantry 
and  cavalry,  but  later  the  trumpet  was  given  to  the  mounted 
regiments.  In  this  way  it  has  occurred  that  the  names  have 
been  used  indiscriminately.  The  difference  between  them 
may  be  sufficiently  indicated  by  calling  the  bugle  the  tenor 
and  the  trumpet  the  barytone  of  military  music. 

The  soldiers,  for  no  one  knows  how  long,  have  fitted 
rhymes  to  the  calls,  and  as  the  men  pour  out  of  the  barracks 
to  groom  their  horses  for  the  morning  or  the  evening  hour 


PREFACE.  Vll 

a  voice  takes  up  the  call,  to  be  quickly  joined  by  others,  and 
after  the  bugles  cease  the  humming  of  "  Go  to  the  stable," 
etc.,  continues  until  the  sergeant  gives  the  signal  for  work 
to  begin  with  the  curry-comb.  A  few  of  these  jingles  have 
been  attached  to  the  calls  that  were  in  most  frequent  use 
during  the  day.  The  words  of  these  simple  rhymes  are  just 
as  familiar  to  military  people  as  the  household  tales  of  in- 
fancy, and  as  indelibly  impressed  on  an  army  child  as  "Twin- 
kle, twinkle,  little  star,"  or  "  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep." 

The  calls  that  are  in  almost  daily  use  head  the  chapters 
throughout  the  book.  Possibly  a  few  of  them  may  need 
some  explanation.  "  Reveille  "  is  the  first  roll-call  of  the  day. 
The  morning  gun  is  fired  as  the  first  note  sounds.  The  sol- 
diers all  come  out  of  t*heir  quarters,  and  the  sergeant  calls 
the  names  alphabetically,  and  reports  to  the  captain  the  whole 
company  as  "  present,  or  accounted  for,"  or  certain  ones  as 
"  absent  without  leave,"  etc.  There  are  three  of  these  roll- 
calls  during  the  twenty -four  hours — at  Reveille,  Retreat,  and 
Tattoo.  "  Retreat"  sounds  at  sunset,  when  the  flag  is  lower- 
ed and  the  evening  gun  is  fired  at  the  last  note  of  the  call. 
**  Tattoo"  is  sounded  about  nine  o'clock,  and  soon  after  comes 
"  Taps  " — a  signal  to  extinguish  lights.  "Assembly  "  is  the  sig- 
nal for  forming  the  company  in  ranks,  and  precedes  the  three 
calls  described  above.  "The  General"  is  the  signal  for  pack- 
ing up,  striking  tents,  and  loading  the  wagons  for  marching. 
"  Boots  and  Saddles"  is  the  first  signal  for  mounting. 

As  there  was  a  great  deal  of  formality  and  "circumstance" 
about  all  these  calls,  and  not  the  slightest  infringement  of 
the  dignity  of  the  routine  was  permitted,  the  rhymes  which 
the  soldiers  made,  in  their  rollicking  off-hand  fashion,  were 
most  violently  in  contrast  with  the  solemnity  of  the  martial 
forms  to  which  they  were  attached. 

The  infantry  mess-call  evidently  dates  back  a  long  time, 
as  the  soldiers'  words  to  the  drum-call  for  mess  are  "  pease 
upon  a  trencher."    "  The  dirty,  dirty,  dirty  dough-boy  " — the 


Vlll  PIlEFACE. 

origin  of  which  is  referred  to  in  Boots  and  Saddles — is  also 
an  infantry  call. 

It  often  happened  that  the  soldiers  changed  their  names 
in  enlisting,  and  sunk  their  identity  in  the  ranks  of  our  army ; 
but  sometimes  even  there  an  irate  wife,  who  had  been  de- 
serted in  the  States,  found  out  her  culprit  husband,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  send  her  money  out  of  his  pay  for  her  support. 
Or,  in  another  instance,  though  the  man  may  have  been  angry 
enough,  at  the  time  of  his  enlistment,  to  feel  that  he  would 
never  return  to  his  virago  of  a  wife,  he  eventually  melted 
when  attacked  with  nostalgia,  and  confided  to  his  comrades 
that  he  was  married.  It  must  have  been  on  some  such  oc- 
casion that  a  scoffer  suited  these  lines  to  the  marching  step 
in  the  drill,  which  begins  "  Left  foot  forward"  always : 

"  Left — left — left  my  wife  and  seven  small  children  behind  me." 

There  is  a  legend  that  women  never  keep  step.  One  of 
my  friends,  who  is  now  a  civilian,  and  the  commanding  oflBcer 
of  only  one  small  woman,  marshals  his  trooper  out  when 
husband  and  wife  go  for  a  stroll,  repeating  the  old  lines  of 
volunteer  days.  I  imagine  that  a  sergeant  who  drilled  the 
men  was  the  original  poet,  for  the  order  of  march  runs  after 
this  fashion : 

"  Left— left— left— had  a  good  home  and  he  leftl" 

Then,  referring  to  the  step  : 

"Now  youVe  got  it,  d n  you,  keep  it — left — ^left — left!" 

Some  children  having  asked  questions  to  which  I  could 
not  reply,  I  was  obliged,  not  long  since,  to  visit  the  Astor 
Library  to  look  up  answers.  I  give  a  condensed  summary  of 
the  results  of  my  research.  One  of  the  old  books  I  consulted 
had  not  had  many  readers,  I  imagine,  for  as  I  turned  the  mil- 
dewed, musty  pages  armies  of  tiny  creatures  chased  each 
other  to  and  fro  in  wild  alarm,  while  bookworms  were  eating 
out  the  foundations  of  the  volume.     Still,  unconsulted  as 


PREFACE.  IX 

Grose's  Military  Antiquities  seeras  to  be,  I  found  informa- 
tion there  that  must  have  some  interest  for  a  cavalryman. 

The  trumpet,  of  which  our  bugle  is  the  sister,  seems  to 
antedate  all  musical  instruments,  as  it  appeared  on  the  Egyp- 
tian bass-relief  at  Thebes,  and  was  also  used  by  the  Israel- 
ites. The  trumpets  of  the  Romans  were  both  straight  and 
crooked.  A  shell  bored  at  the  end,  and  a  horn  with  the  point 
removed,  were  the  most  primitive  forms  of  the  instrument. 
The  tuba,  represented  in  the  bass-reliefs  of  the  triumphal 
arch  of  Titus,  was  a  kind  of  straight  bronze  clarion,  about 
thirty-nine  inches  long.  Fra  Angelico  (1455)  painted  angels 
with  trumpets  with  straight  or  zigzag  tubes,  the  shortest 
being  five  feet  in  length.  A  change  from  the  straight  tube 
of  the  trumpet  to  one  bent  into  three  parallel  lines  was  made 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Luca  della  Robia 
represents  the  tube  bent  back  in  that  way,  and  this  shape 
was  retained  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.  A  capis- 
trum,  or  muzzle,  was  used  by  the  ancients  to  preserve  their 
cheeks  in  blowing  the  trumpet.  Trumpets  were  in  use  dur- 
ing the  crusade  of  1248. 

At  one  time  the  hautboy  and  kettle-drums  were  used  in 
mounted  regiments.  There  is,  even  now,  one  of  the  latter, 
captured  from  the  English  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  at  the 
Military  Museum  on  Governor's  Island. 

Hinde,  in  his  Discipline  of  the  Light  Horse^  says :  "  In 
the  year  1764  his  Majesty  thought  proper  to  forbid  the  use 
of  brass  side-drums  in  the  Light  Cavalry,  and  in  their  room 
to  introduce  brass  trumpets;  the  trumpets  are  slung  over 
the  left  shoulder  and  hang  at  their  backs." 

Grose  says :  "  The  banners  of  the  kettle-drums  and  trump- 
ets to  be  of  the  color  of  the  facing  of  the  regiment ;  the 
badge  of  the  regiment  or  its  rank  to  be  in  the  centre  of  the 
banner  of  the  kettle-drums,  as  on  the  second  standard ;  the 
King's  cipher  and  crown  to  be  on  the  banner  of  the  trump- 
ets, with  the  rank  of  the  regiment  in  ciphers  underneath ; 


%  PEEFACl:. 

the  depth  of  the  kettle-drum  banners  to  be  three  feet  six 
inches;  the  length  four  feet  eight  inches,  exclusive  of  the 
fringe  ;  those  of  the  trumpets  to  be  twelve  inches  in  depth  and 
eighteen  inches  in  length.  The  trumpets  to  be  of  brass ;  the 
cords  to  be  crimson  mixed  with  the  color  of  the  facing  of  the 
regiment;  the  King's  Own  Regiment  of  dragoons  and  the 
Royal  Irish  are  permitted  to  continue  their  kettle-drums." 

The  chief  beats  of  the  drum  formerly  used  by  the  infan- 
try, according  to  Colonel  Bariffe  (1643),  were  a  Call,  a  Troop, 
a  Preparative,  a  March,  a  Bataille,  a  Retreat. 

"  By  a  Call,  you  must  understand  to  prepare  to  hear  pres- 
ent proclamation,  or  else  to  repair  to  your  ensign ;  by  a 
Troop,  understand  to  shoulder  your  muskets,  to  advance 
your  pikes,  to  close  your  ranks  and  files  to  their  order,  a!id 
to  troop  along  with  or  follow  your  oflScer  to  the  place  of 
rendezvous  or  elsewhere  ;  by  a  March,  you  are  to  understand 
to  take  your  open  order  in  rank,  to  shoulder  both  muskets 
and  pikes,  and  to  direct  your  march,  either  quicker  or  slower, 
according  to  the  beat  of  the  drum ;  by  a  Preparative,  you 
are  to  understand  to  close  to  your  due  distance  for  skirmish, 
both  in  rank  and  file,  and  to  make  ready,  that  you  may  exe- 
cute upon  the  first  command ;  by  the  Bataille,  or  Charge, 
understand  the  continuation  or  pressing  forward  in  order  of 
bataille  without  lagging  behind,  rather  boldly  stepping  for- 
ward in  the  place  of  him  that  falls  dead  or  wounded  before 
thee ;  by  a  Retreat  understanding  an  orderly  retiring  back- 
ward, either  for  relief,  for  advantage  of  ground,  or  for  some 
other  political  end,  as  to  draw  the  enemy  into  some  ambush- 
ment,  or  such  like." 

"  The  present  different  beats  of  the  drum,"  says  Grose, 
"  for  the  infantry  are  these  : 

"  The  General :  this  is  beat  instead  of  the  Reveille,  when 
the  whole  camp  and  garrison  are  to  march. 

"  Reveille :  beat  at  daybreak  to  awaken  the  camp  or  gar- 
rison, after  which  the  sentinels  cease  challenging. 


PREFACE.  XI 

"  Assembly,  or  Troop :  at  this  beat  the  troops  fall  in,  the 
roll  is  called,  and  baggage  loaded. 

"  Foot  March  :  to  march. 

"  Grenadiers'  March :  beat  only  to  that  company. 

'*  Retreat :  this  is  beat  at  sunset  in  garrisons  and  at  gun- 
firing  in  camp,  at  which  time  the  pickets  are  formed ;  in 
fortified  places  it  is  a  signal  for  the  inhabitants  to  come  in 
before  the  gates  are  shut. 

"  Tap-too  [our  modern  name  is  tattoo] :  the  signal  for 
soldiers  to  retire  to  their  quarters  or  barracks,  and  to  the 
sutlers  to  draw  no  more  liquor,  from  whence  it  derives  its 
name.     The  tap-too  is  seldom  beat  in  camp. 

"  To  Arms :  a  signal  to  summon  the  soldiers  to  their 
alarm-posts  on  some  sudden  occasion. 

"  The  Church  Call  (called  also  Beating  the  Bank) :  a  beat 
to  summon  the  soldiers  of  a  regiment  or  garrison  to  church. 

"  The  Pioneers'  Call :  known  by  the  appellation  of  Round 
Heads,  come  dig.  This  is  beaten  in  camp  to  summon  the 
pioneers  to  work. 

"  The  Sergeants'  Call :  a  beat  for  calling  the  sergeants  to- 
gether to  the  orderly-room,  or  in  camp,  the  head  of  the  colors. 

"The  Drummers'  Call :  beat  to  assemble  the  drummers  at  the 
head  of  the  colors,  or  in  quarters,  at  the  place  where  it  is  beaten. 

"  The  Preparative  :  a  signal  to  make  ready  for  firing. 

"  The  Chammade :  a  signal  to  desire  to  parley  with  the 
enemy. 

"  The  Rogue's  March  :  this  is  beaten  and  played  by  the 
fifes  when  a  soldier  is  drummed  out  of  the  regiment. 

"  The  Long  Roll :  for  turning  the  regiment  out  in  camp 
or  garrison. 

"  There  was  in  the  King's  household  an  oflScer  titled 
Drum-major-general  of  England,  without  whose  license  no 
one  could,  except  the  King's  troops,  formally  beat  a  drum." 

The  different  sounds  or  signals  given  by  the  trumpet  were, 
according  to  Markham,  in  his  Soldires  Accidence^  as  follows : 


Xll  PREFACE. 

"  The  first  is  Butte  Sella  [modern  Boots  and  Saddles],  or 
put  on  your  saddles,  which,  as  soon  as  the  souldiere  heareth 
(in  the  morning  or  other  times),  he  shall  presently  make 
ready  his  horse  and  his  own  person,  trusse  up  his  sack  of 
neccessaries,  and  make  all  things  fitting  for  his  journey. 

"  The  second  is  Mounte  Cavallo,  or  mount  on  horse  backe, 
at  which  summons  the  souldiere  shall  bridle  up  his  horse, 
bring  him  forth,  and  mount  his  backe. 

"  The  third  is  A  la  Standarde  :  goe  to  your  colours,  or 
standard,  whether  it  bee  standard,  cornet,  or  guidon ;  upon 
which  sound,  the  souldiere,  with  those  of  his  fellowship, 
shall  trot  forth  to  the  place  where  the  cornet  is  lodged,  and 
there  attend  until  it  is  dislodged.  Also  this  sound,  in  the 
field  or  in  service,  when  men  are  disbanded,  is  a  retreat  for 
the  horseman,  and  brings  him  off  being  engaged ;  for  as  oft 
as  he  heares  it  he  must  retire  and  goe  back  to  his  colour. 

"  The  fourth  is  Tuquet,  or  march ;  which  beinge  hearde 
simply  of  itself  without  addition,  commands  nothing  but 
marching  after  the  leader. 

"  The  fifth  is  Carga,  Carga,  or  an  alarm,  charge  !  charge  ! 
which  sounded,  every  man  (like  lightning)  flyes  upon  his 
enemy  and  gives  proofe  of  his  valour. 

"  The  sixth  and  last  is  Aquet,  or  the  Watch :  which, 
sounded  at  night,  commands  all  that  are  out  of  duty  to  their 
reste  ;  and  sounded  in  the  morning,  commands  those  to  reste 
that  have  done  duty,  and  those  that  have  rested  to  awake 
and  doe  duty ;  and  in  these  sounds  you  shall  make  the  soul- 
diere so  perfect  that,  as  a  song  he  may  lanquet  or  sing  them, 
and  know  when  they  are  sounded  unto  him." 

The  instruments  used  in  battle  are  mentioned  in  a  quaint 
ballad  of  King  Edward  III.,  made  on  the  victory  over  the 
Scots  at  Hallidowne  Hille,  in  which  are  these  lines : 

"  This  was  do  with  merry  sowne, 
With  pipes,  trumpes,  and  tabers  thereto, 
And  loud  clariones  thei  blew  also." 


PREFACE.  Xm 

In  the  prose  account  of  the  same  battle  we  read :  *'  Then 
the  Englische  mynstrellcs  beaten  their  tabers  and  blewers 
their  trompes,  and  pipers  pipe  clene  loude  and  made  &  great 
schowte  upon  the  Skotles." 

The  guidon  told  the  soldiers  in  color  what  the  trumpet  or 
bugle  said  in  sound.  If,  after  a  long  march,  the  men  of 
each  company  detailed  to  carry  the  guidon  were  ordered  to 
the  front,  the  hearts  of  the  weary  troopers  saw  them  depart 
with  relief,  for  it  meant  that,  after  joining  the  commanding 
officer,  the  little  band  of  men  swinging  aloft  the  fluttering 
pennants  would  take  their  place  behind  the  color-sergeant 
carrying  the  guidon  of  the  colonel,  and  after  a  brisk  little 
gallop  each  standard-bearer  would  be  posted  at  a  given  point 
to  guide  the  company  as  it  came  up  to  the  place  where  the 
tents  were  to  be  pitched  for  the  night.  The  guidon  is  also 
posted  as  a  line  of  march  at  guard  mount,  or  at  drill.  The 
private  flag  of  a  general  can  be  of  his  own  design.  It  is 
placed  in  front  of  his  tent  or  headquarters,  or  follows  on  the 
march  or  in  battle.  If  the  troopers  value  their  general,  and 
have  faith  in  him  as  a  dauntless  soldier,  they  will  rally  round 
his  flag  in  case  the  fight  is  so  desperate  as  to  endanger  the 
colors. 

Markham,  an  old  authority,  says :  "  The  guidon  is  the 
first  color  any  commander  of  horse  can  let  fly  in  the  field. 
It  was  generally  of  damask  fringed,  and  usually  three  feet  in 
breadth,  lessening  by  degrees  towards  the  bottom,  where  it 
was  by  a  slit  divided  into  two  peaks.  It  was  originally 
borne  by  the  dragoons,*  and  might  be  charged  with  the  ar- 
morial bearings  of  the  owner." 

The  present  cavalry  guidon  is  a  small  United  States  flag 
sharply  swallow-tailed,  and  mounted  on  a  standard  with  a 
metal  point,  so  that  it  can  be  thrust  into  the  ground  when 
in  use  as  a  marker. 

*  Troops  trained  to  act  on  foot  or  on  horseback. 


CONTENTS. 


OUAP.  PAOB 

I.  THE  MARCH  INTO  THE  INDIAN  TERRITORY    ....  1 

II.  GENERAL  CUSTER'S  LETTERS  DESCRIBING  THE  MARCH  11 

III.  WHITE  SCOUTS 24 

IV.  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA 35 

V.  INDIAN  TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND  CAPTIVES       ....  51 

VI.  IN  CAMP  ON  BIO  CREEK 66 

\^I.    INDIAN    PRISONERS 83 

VIII.   CORRAL  OF  THE  CAPTIVES 98 

IX.   PETS  OF  THE  CAMP 112 

X.   A  SLOW   MULE-RACK 131 

XI.   TALES   OF  soldiers'   DEVOTION  AND    DROLLERY     .      .  147 

XII.    WILD  BILL   AS  A   MAGISTRATE 159 

XIII.    HOME  OF   THE   BUFFALO 178 

XIV.   FIRST  WOMEN  TO  HUNT  BUFFALOES      .....  194 

XV.   HUNTING   RECORDS .213 

XVI.  ARMY  HOUSE-KEEPING 226 

XVH.    NECESSITY  THE    MOTHER  OF  INVENTION 241 

XVIII.  "  GARRYOWEN  "  LEADS  THE   HUNT 263 

XIX.   ARMY   PROMOTIONS    .      .      .      .  • 278 

XX.   A  FLOOD   ON   BIG  CREEK 289 

XXI.   RATTLESNAKES  AS   NEIGHBORS 299 

XXII.   DANDY 324 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


GENERAL  CUSTER  AND  HIS  SCOUTS Fl'Ontispiece. 

INDIANS   PREPARING   TO  MOVE fav€8  page        C 

INDIANS  ON  THE  WAR-PATH "  "        18 

CALIFORNIA  JOE "  "26 

RECONNOITRING  THE  SITUATION "  "38 

INDIAN  PRISONERS  ON  THE   MARCH "  "46 

DISTRIBUTING  THE   MAIL "  "54 

INDL4N  VILLAGE "  "92 

CAPTURED  CHIEFS  —  FAT  BEAR,  DULL    KNIFE,   BIG 

HEAD— IN  TRA\'ELLING  COSTUME "  "106 

A  SCALP-LOCK .      .      .  "  "112 

WARRIOR  IN  WAR-BONNET "  "120 

THE  SCOUT "  "164 

SHOOTING  BUFFALO  FROM  CAR-WINDOWS  .      .      .       .  "  "      184 

BUFFALO  BROUGHT  TO   BAY "  "      206 

paymaster's  ESCORT "  "286 

DANDY       


"        "     324 


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We  arc  the  boys  that  take  delight  in 
Smashing  the  Limerick  lights  when  lighting, 
Through  the  streets  like  sporters  fighting 
And  tearing  all  before  us. — Chorus. 

We'll  break  windows,  we'll  break  doors, 
The  watch  knock  down  by  threes  and  fours; 
Then  let  the  doctors  work  their  cures. 
And  tinker  up  our  bruises. — Chorus. 

We'll  beat  the  bailiffs  out  of  fun. 
We'll  make  the  mayor  and  sheriffs  run; 
We  are  the  boys  no  man  dares  dun, 
If  he  regards  a  whole  skin. — Chorus. 

Our  hearts  so  stout  have  got  us  fame, 
For  soon  'tis  known  from  whence  we  came; 
Where'er  we  go  they  dread  the  name 
Of  Garryowen  in  glory. — Chorus. 


FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 


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CHAPTER  I. 

THE   MARCH   INTO   THE   INDIAN   TERRITORY. 

Around  many  a  camp-fire  in  the  summer,  and  in  our 
winter-quarters  before  the  huge  fireplaces,  where  the 
wood  merrily  crackled  and  the  flame  danced  up  the 
chimney,  have  I  heard  the  oft-told  tales  of  the  battle 
of  the  Washita,  the  first  great  fight  of  the  Seventh 
Cavalry.  The  regiment  was  still  new,  having  been  or- 
ganized during  the  year  after  the  war.  It  had  done 
much  hard*  work,  and  had  not  only  accomplished  some 
genuine  successes  in  a  small  way,  but  its  records  of 
long  untiring  marches  in  the  chill  of  early  spring,  dur- 
ing the  burning  heat  of  a  Kansas  summer  sun,  and  i'n 
the  sharp  frosts  of  a  late  autumn  campaign,  were  some- 
1 


2  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

thiug  to  be  proud  of.  Still,  the  officers  and  men  had 
little  in  the  way  of  recognized  achievement  to  repay 
them  for  much  patient  work,  and  they  longed  individ- 
ually and  as  a  regiment  for  a  war  "record."  This 
would  not  have  been  so  powerful  a  desire  had  not  the 
souls  of  our  men  been  set  on  fire  by  the  constant  news 
of  the  torture  of  white  prisoners  by  the  Indians.  His- 
tory traces  many  wars  to  women ;  and  women  certainly 
bore  a  large  though  unconscious  part  in  inciting  our 
people  to  take  up  arms  in  attempts  to  rescue  them,  and 
to  inflict  such  punishments  upon  their  savage  captors  as 
would  teach  the  Indian  a  needed  lesson. 

From  the  Department  of  the  Platte,  which  has  its 
headquarters  in  Nebraska,  to  the  Indian  Territory  and 
Texas  the  trails  of  the  regiment  could  be  traced.  It  is 
customary  to  keep  a  daily  record  of  each  march,  and  a 
small  pen-and-ink  map  is  added.  From  these  a  larger 
one  is  made  after  the  summer  is  over,  and  when  the 
War  Department  issues  yearly  maps  the  new  routes  or 
fresh  discoveries  are  recorded.  One  of  these  regimen- 
tal journals  lies  before  me.  The  map  for  each  day 
marks  the  course  of  the  stream,  the  place  where  the 
regiment  encamped  overnight,  the  "ford,"  the  "roll- 
ing prairie,"  "  high  ridges,"  "  level  prairie,"  with  dots 
to  mark  the  line  of  the  Pacific  Kailway,  in  course  of 
construction ;  "  small  dry  creek,"  "  marshy  soil,"  "  level 
bottom,"  "stone  bluff,"  etc..  One  of  the  written  rec- 
ords goes  on  to  state  where,  as  the  days  advanced,  the 
troops  encamped  at  night  without  water,  and  all  the 
men  and  horses  had  to  drink  was  got  by  digging  down 


THE   MARCH   INTO  THE   INDIAN   TERRITORY.  3 

into  the  dry  bed  of  a  stream ;  or  where,  at  another  time, 
they  found  a  "stream  impassable,"  and  "  halted  to  build 
a  bridge,"  together  with  such  hints  of  experience  as 
these:  "struck  an  old  wagon  trail";  "marched  over 
cactus-beds  and  through  a  deep  ravine  ";  "  made  camp 
where  there  was  standing  water  only";  "banks  of 
stream  miry — obliged  to  corduroy  it";  "grass  along 
the  stream  poor,  sandy  soil";  banks  of  next  stream 
"forty  feet  high — ^great  trouble  in  finding  a  crossing"; 
"  obliged  to  corduroy  another  stream  for  each  separate 
wagon";  "took  four  hours  to  cross  twenty  wagons"; 
"timber  thick,  grass  poor";  "struck  what  is  called  by 
the  Indians  Bad  Lands,  being  a  succession  of  ridges 
with  ravines  fifty  feet  deep  between ;  two  wagons  rolled 
over  and  went  down  one  ravine";  "  passed  four  ranches 
destroyed  by  the  Indians  and  abandoned  ";  "  left  camp 
at  5  A.M. ;  so  misty  and  foggy,  could  not  see  a  hundred 
yards  in  advance ;"  "distance  of  march  this  day  guessed, 
odometer  out  of  order";  "marched  up  a  canon  with 
banks  fifty  feet  high  ";  "  Company  E  left  the  columns 
to  pursue  Indians";  "all  this  day  marched  over  Cap- 
tain S 's  old  trail";    "this  was  a  dry  camp,  poor 

grass  and  plenty  of  cacti";  "found  water-holes,  the 
head  of  the  river";  "total  distance  of  march,  seven 
hundred  and  four  miles." 

The  names  of  the  streams,  the  elevated  points  of 
ground,  or  the  gulches  were  seldom  taken  from  the 
musical  nomenclature  of  the  Indian ;  they  seemed  to 
have  been  given  by  the  outspoken,  irreverent  pioneer 
or  miner. 


4:  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

Evidently,  if  these  first  wayfarers  had  difficulty  in 
making  a  crossing  of  a  stream,  they  caused  the  name 
to  record  the  obstacles.  Our  refined  officers  sometimes 
hesitated  in  their  replies  if  asked  by  peace  commission- 
ers from  the  East,  whom  they  were  escorting  to  an  Ind- 
ian village,  what  the  place  was  called.  For  instance, 
one  of  them  said  when  he  replied  to  such  a  question, 
"  Hell  Roaring  Creek,"  etc.  He  looked  out  over  the 
surrounding  scenery  till  the  effect  of  these  shocking 
names  had  passed.  A  humorous  Western  paper,  in 
commenting  on  this  national  idiosyncrasy,  wonders, 
since  the  law  requires  that  our  national  cruisers  shall 
be  called  after  cities,  if  "  You  Bet,"  "  Hang  Town," 
"Red  Dog,"  "  Jackass  Gap,"  and  "Yuba  Dam"  would 
answer.  The  worst  of  it  all  is  that  these  names,  given 
by  a  passing  ti*aveller  with  careless  indifference  to  the 
future  of  the  places  on  which  they  were  bestowed,  rest 
as  an  incubus  upon  localities  that  afterwards  became 
the  sites  of  places  of  prominence ;  and  it  is  as  hard  for 
a  town  or  region  so  afflicted  as  for  the  traditional  dog 
to  get  rid  of  a  bad  name. 

The  brief  itinerary  of  this  one  march,  out  of  the  many 
the  Seventh  Cavalry  made,  gives  a  faint  idea  of  the 
daily  history  of  a  regiment.  Concise  as  is  the  record, 
it  served  to  point  the  way  for  many  a  tired  pioneer 
who  came  after ;  for,  on  his  map,  compiled  from  these 
smaller  ones,  were  the  locations  of  places  where  he 
could  stop  for  wood  and  water,  as  well  as  the  warning 
where  neither  of  these  necessaries  could  be  obtained. 

Still,  there  was  often  a  weary  sigh  among  the  young- 


THE   MABCH   INTO   THE   INDIAN   TEKRITORY.  5 

Bters  who  had  no  war  record,  and  who  longed  to  make 
some  sort  of  soldier's  name  for  themselves.  Besides, 
they  passed  the  dismantled,  deserted  home  of  many  a 
venturesome  frontiersman ;  they  saw  the  burned  stage 
stations ;  they  met  in  forts  or  small  settlements  placed 
in  a  safe  position  ranchmen  whose  wives  had  been 
killed,  or,  worse  still,  made  captives ;  they  came  upon 
the  mutilated  and  horribly  disfigured  bodies  of  Lieu- 
tenant Kidder  and  eleven  soldiers ;  everywhere  on  all  its 
marches  the  regiment  followed  the  trail  of  the  Indian 
on  his  frightful  career  of  rapine,  murder,  and  outrage. 
Many  a  time  the  question  was  asked,  what  was  the  good 
of  galloping  after  foes  who  knew  the  country  thor- 
oughly, who  were  mounted  on  the  fleetest,  hardiest  ani- 
mals in  the  world,  that  needed  no  grain,  and  who  could 
go  directly  to  rivers  or  streams  where  they  could  graze 
their  ponies  for  a  few  days  and  start  off  refreshed  for 
a  long  raid,  and  who  each  day  could  be  bountifully  fed 
on  the  game  of  the  country  without  being  hampered 
with  a  train  of  supplies.  The  odds  were  all  against 
our  fine  fellow^. 

They  had  marched  and  countermarched  over  the 
country  so  constantly  that  the  wit  of  the  regiment  said 
to  the  engineer  officer  who  made  the  daily  map :  "  Why 
fool  with  that?  Just  take  the  pattern  supplement  of 
the  Harper* 8  Bazar ^  and  no  better  map  of  our  marches 
could  be  found." 

Much  enthusiasm  was  felt  when  the  announcement 
was  made  that  a  winter  campaign  was  to  be  under- 
taken.    "Now  we  have  them !"  was  the  sanguine  boast. 


6  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

The  buffalo-hunting  among  the  tribes  was  over  for  the 
year.  Enough  meat  had  been  jerked  or  dried  to  keep 
them  during  cold  weather,  and  the  villages  were  estab- 
lished for  the  winter.  In  the  summer  the  tribes  trav- 
elled great  distances.  As  soon  as  the  grass  in  a  riv- 
er valley  was  exhausted  by  the  ponies,  everything  was 
packed,  the  village  moved,  and  another  point  was  chos- 
en. At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  there  was  a  jour- 
ney to  timber  lands,  where  lodge  poles  could  be  cut ; 
another  was  made  to  certain  clay-beds,  where  material 
for  pipes  was  obtained ;  another  to  regions  where  the 
buffaloes  were  most  numerous,  and  the  winter's  meat 
was  prepared,  or  the  hides  dressed  for  robes  or  tepee 
covers.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  hundreds  of  miles 
that  the  villages  traversed  in  the  summer;  but  in  the 
winter  a  remote  spot  was  chosen,  on  a  stream  where  the 
timber  offered  some  protection  from  the  winter  storms, 
and  the  grass  would  last  longest,  and  here  the  nomad 
"settled  down"  for  a  few  months.  It  was  such  a  vil- 
lage that  our  regiment  was  seeking. 

The  command  starting  into  the  Indian  Territory  was 
formidable  enough,  and  had  not  the  Indians  been  much 
emboldened  by  former  successes,  they  would  not  have 
dared  dash  upon  the  rear-guard  or  rush  in  from  a  ravine 
to  stampede  the  animals  of  the  wagon  train,  as  they 
often  did  on  that  march. 

General  Custer,  in  an  unpublished  letter  to  a  friend 
in  the  East,  describes  the  first  attacks  of  the  Indians  af- 
ter the  march  south  began.  "I  had  not  been  in  my 
camp  where  I  first  joined  two  hours,  when  we  were 


^ 


THE   MARCH   INTO   THE   INDIAN   TERRITORY.  7 

attacked  by  a  war  party.  I  wish  that  you  could  have 
been  with  us.  You  would  never  ask  to  go  to  a  circus 
after  seeing  Indians  ride  and  perform  in  a  fight.  I 
took  my  rifle  and  went  out  on  the  line,  hoping  to  obtain 
a  good  shot,  but  it  was  like  shooting  swallows  on  the 
wing,  so  rapid  were  they  in  their  movements.  Their 
object  had  been  to  dash  into  camp  and  secure  some  of 
our  horses.  Disappointed  in  this,  they  contented  them- 
selves with  circling  around  us  on  their  ponies,  firing 
as  they  flew  along  the  line,  but  doing  no  injury.  As  it 
was  late  in  the  evening  and  our  horses  all  unsaddled,  I 
prevented  the  men  from  going  from  camp  to  fight. 
Sometimes  a  warrior,  all  feathered  and  painted,  in  order 
to  show  his  bravery  to  his  comrades,  started  alone  on 
his  pony,  and  with  the  speed  of  a  quarter-horse  would 
dash  along  the  entire  length  of  my  line,  and  even  with- 
in three  or  four  hundred  yards  of  it,  my  men  pouring 
in  their  rifle-balls  by  hundreds,  yet  none  bringing  down 
the  game.  I  could  see  the  bullets  knock  up  the  dust 
around  and  beneath  his  pony's  feet,  but  none  apparently 
striking  him.  We  shot  two  ponies,  however,  in  this  way, 
and  may  have  inflicted  greater  damage;  but  in  this  as 
in  all  things  pertaining  to  warfare,  the  Indians  are  so 
shrewd  as  to  prevent  our  determining  their  losses.  Oc- 
casionally a  pony  is  captured.  I  have  one  now  which 
is  white,  with  a  tail  dragging  on  the  ground.  We  have 
also  captured  an  article  of  great  value  to  them,  an  Ind- 
ian shield.  It  is  made  of  the  thickest  part  of  the  buf- 
falo-hide, adorned  with  rude  paintings,  and  is  usually 
hung  in  front  of  a  tepee  to  keep  off  evil  spirits." 


8  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

It  gave  the  men  excellent  practice,  this  running  fire 
on  the  march.  The  necessity  for  troops  was  so  great 
that  raw  recruits  were  sent  out,  without  taking  time 
to  drill  them  in  target  practice.  It  came  to  pass  that 
many  a  soldier  drew  his  carbine  on  an  Indian  in  the 
first  shot  he  had  ever  fired.  A  corps  of  forty  sharp- 
shooters was  formed  from  men  who  day  by  day  showed 
unusual  skill  in  the  use  of  fire-arms,  and  these  were  al- 
lowed some  privileges,  such  as  being  marched  as  a  sep- 
arate organization,  which  of  itself  is  a  great  favor.  It 
is  far  from  agreeable  to  submit  to  the  irksome  rules  of 
a  marching  column.  No  guard  or  picket  duty  was  ex- 
pected from  these  sharp-shooters,  so  that  they  attained 
what  is  the  supreme  good  of  a  soldier's  life,  "  all  their 
nights  in  bed."  The  soldier  detailed  for  guard  duty 
has  two  hours  on  and  two  off  for  twenty-four  hours, 
and  unless  the  command  is  large  these  times  of  duty 
come  very  often — in  the  estimation  of  the  men. 

In  looking  over  some  of  the  war  poetry  that  filled 
the  papers  from  1861  to  1865,  I  came  across  a  little 
jingle  that  describes  a  soldier's  glory  and  grumbling, 
whether  he  be  fighting  the  white  or  the  red  man : 

"And  how  we  fought  and  how  we  tramped. 
Too  long  a  tale  perhaps  I'll  spin  ye ; 
But,  first  and  last,  I  think  we  camped 
In  every  field  in  old  Virginny  ! 

**  'Twas  a  gay  old  life,  but  Lord !  'twas  hard — 
No  rest  for  the  good,  no  peace  for  the  wicked ; 
When  you  didn't  fight  you  were  put  on  guard, 
And  when  you  came  off  you  went  on  picket." 


THE   MARCH   INTO   THE   INDIAN   TERRITORY.  9 

On  the  expedition  the  cavalry  marched  in  a  column 
of  fours ;  then  came  a  long  wagon  train,  hauling  the  for- 
age, tents,  rations,  and  extra  ammunition,  and  following 
all  this  was  the  rear-guard.  The  great  struggle  of  the 
Indian  when  not  actually  ready  for  battle — which  he 
never  is  unless  all  odds  are  in  his  favor — is  to  cut  off  the 
wagon  train ;  this  he  tries  to  accomplish  by  frightening 
the  mules.  Sometimes  the  country  admitted  of  the 
wagons  being  marched  in  four  lines — an  arrangement 
which  required  fewer  soldiers  to  be  deployed  on  either 
flank  and  in  the  rear  for  their  protection. 

In  lettei*s  to  his  Eastern  friend,  from  one  of  which 
quotations  have  been  made,  General  Custer  speaks  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm  of  the  stag  and  fox  hounds  his 
correspondent  had  given  him.  The  former  were  a  new 
breed  to  him,  and  their  feats,  while  only  puppies,  were 
daily  marvels  to  their  proud  owner. 

"Maida  and  Blucher  both  seized  the  first  buffalo  they 
saw  while  running,  which  was  pretty  plucky  for  pups, 
I  think.  The  dogs  have  gone  beyond  my  highest  ex- 
pectations. Three  days  ago  Maida  alone  ran  down  a 
jack-rabbit  and  killed  it,  and  they  are  the  fleetest  ani- 
mals we  have,  except  the  antelope.  Yesterday  while 
looking  for  camp,  accompanied  by  a  few  scouts  and 
headquarters  men,  we  jumped  a  prairie-wolf.  Maida 
and  Blucher,  Rover  and  the  other  little  fox-hound,  start- 
ed after  it,  the  stag-hounds,  of  course,  leaving  the  other 
two  far  behind.  Blucher  was  the  first  to  come  up  with 
the  wolf;  he  had  never  seen  one  before.  As  soon  as 
he  reached  it  he  seized  it  across  the  back,  and  never 


10  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

relinquished  his  hold  until  he  had  killed  it,  and  this  he 
did  by  breaking  its  backbone.  Blucher  held  on  like  a 
bull-dog.  A  wolf  is  one  of  the  ugliest  animals  a  dog 
can  handle.  Of  the  many  dogs  that  are  in  this  regi- 
ment there  is  but  one  that  will  attack  a  wolf,  and  he 
needs  to  be  encouraged.  Don't  you  think  that  is  pret- 
ty good  for  a  pup?  The  other  day  all  the  dogs  went  in 
chase  after  a  jack-rabbit  quite  out  of  sight.  An  offi- 
cer mounted  and  started  after  them,  and  met  the  dogs, 
Blucher  at  the  head  carrying  the  rabbit  in  his  mouth. 
What  do  you  think  of  a  stag-hound  as  a  retriever?" 


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I     can't  get  'em  up,  I     can't  get  'em  up,  I     can't  get  'em  up  this 


^ 


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V-M- 


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morn  -  Ing ;    I       can't  get  'em  up 
End 

I 

can't  get  'em  up, 

I 

/                      ^                   K         K 

^         ^         ^ 

, 

L         «        Tj      0-      p-  ■■  p 

S    ■   . 

1      1      r     i 

• 

^        1          ^       ^       J        J 

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J  '   J     \j 

J 

^1^     Lj     ^    L?    •     • 

1 

« 

J               ^                         ^ 

can't  get  'em   up      at       all. 


The    corp'ral  is     worse  than  the 


ipzzi 


:p=9: 


pri    -    vate.     The       ser  -  geant's  worse  than  the  cor  -   p'ral,  The 

^ — V  D.G. 


7=f=f^ 


t- 


5=c 


Ueat'8  worse  than  the  6ei:geant,  And  the  captain  Is  worse  than  them  all. 


CHAPTER  II. 

GENERAL   CUSTER's   LETTERS   DESCRIBING   THE   MARCH. 

I  HERE  make  some  extracts  from  many  of  my  own 
letters  from  General  Custer,  in  the  belief  that  they  will 
make  the  daily  life  on  the  march,  and  in  camps  which 
were  established  for  unavoidable  delays,  on  the  journey 
into  the  Indian  Territory  clearer  than  it  would  other- 
wise be  to  the  reader,  who  knows  little  of  the  progress 
of  a  military  expedition. 

Fort  Hays,  Kansas,  October  4,  1868. 
I  breakfasted  with  General  Sheridan  and  the  staff.     The 
general  said  to  me,  "  Custer,  I  rely  upon  you  in  everything, 


12  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

and  shall  send  you  on  this  expedition  without  giving  you 
any  orders,  leaving  you  to  act  entirely  upon  your  judg- 
ment." 

The  expedition  will  consist  of  eleven  companies  of  caval- 
ry, four  of  infantry,  and  two  howitzers,  accompanied  by  a 
large  train. 

Forty-two  Miles  from  Fort  Dodge,  October  \Uh. 

We  have  been  on  the  war-path  but  one  week.  I  joined 
the  regiment  near  our  present  camp  a  week  since,  and  within 
two  hours  the  Indians  attacked  camp.  We  drove  them  away, 
killing  two  ponies.  That  night  I  sent  out  two  scouting  par- 
ties of  a  hundred  men  each,  to  scour  the  country  for  thirty 
miles  round. 

I  never  heard  of  wild  turkeys  in  such  abundance.  We 
have  them  every  day  we  care  for  them,  and  there  are  five 
dressed  in  the  mess  chest  now.  All  the  men  have  them,  and 
in  one  day  eighty  were  killed.  Tom  shot  five  in  a  few  mo- 
ments. 

Now  I  want  to  tell  you  about  my  splendid  stag-hounds. 
The  other  day  Maida  caught  a  jack-rabbit  alone.  Yester- 
day she  and  Blucher  took  hold  of  a  buffalo,  and  to-day,  as 
we  came  into  camp,  Blucher  started  a  wolf  and  caught  it 
alone.  Within  half  an  hour  a  jack-rabbit  was  started  near 
camp.  My  three  stag-hounds.  Flirt,  Blucher,  and  Maida,  and 
two  greyhounds,  went  in  pursuit. 

We  could  see  the  chase  for  nearly  a  mile,  and  it  was  a 
pretty  sight ;  then  they  disappeared  over  a  hill.  The  officers 
are  constantly  trying  to  buy  the  stag-hounds  of  me. 

I  wish  that  Eliza*  was  out  here  to  make  some  nice  rolls  in- 
stead of  the  solid  shot  our  cook  gives  us. 

Tell  Eliza  she  is  the  "awfulest "  scold  and  the  most  "  quar- 


*  Eliza  was  our  colored  cook  who  was  with  me  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth. 


LETTEKS   DESCRIBING   THE   MAKCU.  13 

relsomest "  woman  I  ever  met.     She  and  the  man  who  waits 
on  the  table  have  constant  rows.* 

Twelve  Miles  from  Dodge,  October  22d. 
We  will  probably  remain  here  ten  days  before  moving 
towards  the  Washita  mountains.  Some  of  the  oflScers  think 
that  this  may  be  like  others  before  it — a  campaign  on  paper ; 
but  I  know  General  Sheridan  too  well  to  think  that  he  will 
follow  any  such  example;  he  does  not  readily  relinquish  an 
idea.  The  general  has  sent  to  the  Osage  Indians  to  employ 
them  on  our  side ;  they  will  be  a  profitable  assistance. 

October  24,  1868. 

The  general  has  finally  decided  upon  a  winter  campaign. 
If  we  cannot  find  the  Indians,  and  inflict  considerable  injury 
upon  them,  we  will  be  on  the  wing  all  winter.  We  are  going 
to  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country,  where  white  troops  have 
never  been  before.  The  Indians  have  grown  up  in  the  belief 
that  soldiers  cannot  and  dare  not  follow  them  there.  They 
are  now  convinced  that  all  the  tribes  that  have  been  committing 
depredations  on  the  plains  the  past  season  have  gone  south, 
and  are  near  each  other  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Washita  mount- 
ains. They  will  doubtless  combine  rgainst  us  when  they  find 
that  we  are  about  to  advance  into  their  country. 

To-day  I  gave  the  regimental  saddler  directions  how  to 
make  me  a  large  pair  of  saddle-bags.     They  will  contain 


*  This  cook  was  the  only  woman  on  the  expedition.  She  had 
been  a  camp  woman  many  years,  and  was  tanned  and  toughened 
by  ' '  roughing  it."  She  was  perfectly  fearless,  but  the  life  had  sad- 
ly affected  her  temper.  Even  her  brave  husband  (that  is,  brave  in 
battle)  approached  her  guardedly  if  anything  went  wrong.  When 
the  expedition  was  attacked  at  one  time,  she  was  cooking  by  a 
camp-fire,  and  was  heard  to  mutter  when  a  bullet  passed  her  by, 
"  Git  out,  ye  red  divils  ye,"  and  went  on  with  her  work  as  if  noth- 
ing were  happening. 


14  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

nearly  all  that  I  desire  to  carry,  and  can  be  put  on  my  led- 
horse. 

The  men  are  at  target  practice,  and  it  sounds  like  a  battle. 
All  the  officers  of  the  regiment  are  now  learning  signals. 
Books  have  been  furnished  us  from  Washington.  I  found  all 
the  line-officers  to-day  in  the  classes.  Most  of  the  officers 
can  now  converse  quite  readily  as  far  as  they  can  see  the 
signals.  This  is  just  the  country  for  signalling,  Nature  having 
formed  admirable  signal  stations  over  this  part  of  the  terri- 
tory. General  Sheridan,  in  his  letter  yesterday,  said  furloughs 
would  be  given  to  every  enlisted  man  who  would  do  well. 

Camp  "Sandy"  Forsyth,  November  Sd. 

You  see  I  have  named  our  camp  after  the  brave  "  Sandy." 
I  suppose  that  you  have  seen  considerable  excitement  to-day 
over  the  Presidential  campaign.  I  do  not  presume  that  of 
the  many  hundreds  of  men  here  a  dozen  remembered  that  to- 
day is  Election  Day,  so  little  is  the  army  interested  in  the 
event.  I  have  been  quite  busy  coloring  the  company  horses. 
Don't  imagine  that  I  have  been  painting  them ;  but  I  have  been 
classifying  all  the  horses  of  the  regiment,  so  that  instead  of 
each  company  representing  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  by 
their  horses,  now  every  company  has  one  color.  There  are 
pure  bays,  browns,  sorrels,  grays,  and  blacks. 

This  morning  I  ordered  "  Phil "  saddled,  and  rode  up  the 
valley  looking  for  a  new  camp.*  I  was  accompanied  by  my 
inseparable  companions,  the  dogs  (except  Flirt,  who  is  lame). 
When  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  camp,  I  discovered 
a  large  wolf  lying  down  about  half  a  mile  beyond.  Calling 
the  four  dogs — Rover,  the  old  fox-hound,  Fanny,  the  little  fox- 
hound, Blucher,  and  Maida — I  started  for  the  wolf. 

*  When  the  earth  becomes  much  trodden,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  camp  clean,  it  is  customary  to  move  on  for  a  short  distance 
to  fresh  ground. 


LETTERS   DESCBIBING   THE   MARCH.  15 

When  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  he  began  to  run.  The 
two  stag-hounds  caught  sight  of  him,  and  away  went  the 
dogs,  and  away  went  Phil  and  I,  full  chase  after  them.  The 
fox-hounds,  of  course,  could  not  begin  to  keep  up. 

Before  the  wolf  had  run  three-quarters  of  a  mile  Maida 
had  overtaken  him.  She  grappled  with  him  at  once  and 
threw  him  over  and  over ;  before  he  could  regain  his  feet  or 
get  hold  of  Maida,  Blucher  dashed  in  upon  him,  and  he  was 
never  allowed  to  rise  afterwards.  These  two  puppies  killed 
the  wolf  before  Rover  and  Fanny  could  reach  the  spot.  I 
had  put  Phil  to  his  mettle,  and  was  near  at  hand  when  the 
wolf  was  caught.  Blucher  and  Maida  were  perfectly  savage ; 
each  time  they  closed  their  powerful  jaws  I  could  hear  the 
bones  crunch  as  if  within  a  vice.  There  did  not  seem  to  be 
a  bone  unbroken  when  the  dogs  had  finished  him.  All  the 
officers  and  men  were  watching  the  chase  from  camp. 

We  started  a  jack-rabbit  just  at  evening,  and  all  the  dogs 
joined  in.  I  never  saw  any  race  so  exciting.  The  dogs  sur- 
pass my  highest  expectations.  All  four  are  lying  on  my  bed 
or  at  my  feet.  I  have  a  pair  of  buffalo  overshoes,  the  hair 
inside,  and  I  am  to  have  a  vest  made  from  a  dressed  buffalo 
calf-skin,  with  the  hair  on.  When  we  were  encamped  near 
Dodge  I  sent  the  tailor,  Frank,  in  to  buy  some  thread  and 
buttons.  He  came  home  very  "  tight,"  and  when  I  asked  him 
if  they  kept  thread  and  buttons  in  bottles  at  the  sutler  store, 
he  answered  me  in  droll  broken  English  that  made  me  shout 
with  laughter. 

November  1th. 
I  want  to  tell  you  something  wonderful.  A  white  wom- 
an has  just  come  into  our  camp  deranged,  and  can  give  no 
account  of  herself.  She  has  been  four  days  without  food. 
Our  cook  is  now  giving  her  something  to  eat.  I  can  only 
explain  her  coming  by  supposing  her  to  have  been  captured 
by  the  Indians,  and  their  barbarous  treatment  having  ren- 


16  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

dered  her  insane.  I  ^nd  her  to-night,  by  the  mail  party,  to 
Fort  Dodge.  I  shall  send  by  the  paymaster  a  live  pelican,  to 
be  presented  to  the  Audubon  Club  in  Detroit.  It  is  the  first 
I  ever  saw.  It  measures  nearly  seven  feet  from  tip  to  tip, 
and  its  bill  is  about  ten  inches  long.  One  of  my  Cheyenne 
scouts  caught  it  in  the  river  near  camp.  He  first  struck  it, 
and  stunned  it  long  enough  to  effect  its  capture. 

Camp  on  Beavkr  Creek  (100  Miles  from  Dodge),  Nov.  21,  '68. 

The  day  that  we  reached  here  we  crossed  a  fresh  trail  of 
a  large  war  party  going  north.  I  sent  our  Indian  scouts  to 
follow  it  a  short  distance  to  determine  the  strength  and  di- 
rection of  the  party.  The  guides  all  report  the  trail  of  a 
war  party  going  north-east,  and  that  they  evidently  have  just 
come  from  the  village,  which  must  be  located  within  fifty 
miles  of  us  in  a  southerly  direction.  Had  the  Kansas  vol- 
unteers been  here,  as  was  expected,  my  orders  would  then 
have  allowed  me  to  follow  the  back  trail  of  the  war  party 
right  to  their  village  ;  and  we  would  have  found  the  latter  in 
an  unprotected  state,  as  their  warriors  had  evidently  gone 
north,  either  to  Larned  or  Zarah,  or  to  fight  the  Osage  or  Kaw 
Indians,  who  are  now  putting  up  their  winter  meat.  We  did 
not  encounter  an  Indian  coming  to  this  last  point,  which 
proves  that  our  campaign  was  not  expected  by  them.  To- 
night six  scouts  start  for  Dodge  with  our  mail  and  despatch- 
es for  headquarters. 

November  22d. 

It  lacks  a  few  moments  to  twelve ;  reveille  is  at  four,  but 
I  must  add  a  few  words  more.  To-day  General  Sheridan 
and  staff,  and  two  companies  of  the  Kansas  volunteers,  ar- 
rived. I  move  to-morrow  morning  with  my  eleven  compa- 
nies, taking  thirty  days'  rations.  I  am  to  go  south  from  here 
to  the  Canadian  River,  then  down  the  river  to  Fort  Cobb,  then 
south-west  towards  the  Washita  mountains,  then  north-west 
back  to  this  point,  my  whole  march  not  exceeding  two  hun- 


LETTEE8   DESCRIBING  THE   MABCH.  IT 

dred  and  fifty  miles.  Among  the  new  horses  sent  to  the  regi- 
ment I  have  selected  one,  a  beautiful  brown,  that  I  call  "  Dan- 
dy." The  snow  is  now  five  or  six  inches  deep  and  falling 
rapidly.  The  general  and  his  staff  have  given  me  a  pair  of 
buffalo  overshoes,  a  fur  cap  with  ear  lappets,  and  have  offered 
me  anything  they  have,  for  winter  is  upon  us  with  all  its 
force. 

As  a  winter's  campaign  against  Indians  was  decid- 
edly a  new  departure  for  our  regiment,  and,  indeed,  at 
that  time  for  any  troops,  and  as  this  one  ended  with 
a  notable  victory  for  our  people,  it  was  the  subject  of 
many  conversations  on  the  galleries  of  our  quarters,  at 
tlie  fireside,  and  around  our  dinner-tables  for  years  af- 
terwards. Certain  ludicrous  affairs  fastened  themselves 
on  officers  seemingly  for  all  time.  For  instance,  one 
night  during  the  winter,  when  the  regiment  was  away 
from  its  base  of  supplies,  tents,  and  luggage,  except  what 
could  be  carried  on  the  hoi-ses,  the  troops  were  obliged 
to  sleep  on  the  ground,  and  blankets  were  so  scarce  that 
everybody  took  a  "  bunkey,"  officers  and  all,  in  order 
to  double  the  bedding.  One  very  small  officer  rolled 
himself  against  the  back  of  a  huge  man,  six  feet  four 
inches  high,  who  on  other  windy  nights  had  served  as 
a  protection ;  but  he  did  not  combine  every  virtue,  and 
when  it  was  both  windy  and  cold  he  had  the  inhumanity 
to  turn  in  the  night,  and  leave  the  poor  little  dot  of  an 
officer  entirely  uncovered.  This  is  never  thought  to  be 
an  agreeable  thing  for  a  bedfellow  to  do,  but  on  a  bitter 
winter  night,  when  the  only  awning  over  the  victim  was 
the  starry  sky,  it  was  such  a  trial  that  the  manner  in 
2 


18  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

which  the  sufferer  told  of  his  woes  the  next  morning 
made  him  the  laughing-stock  of  his  comrades  all  winter 
and  long  afterwards. 

Oflficers  will  run  almost  any  risk  to  get  a  bath,  but 
the  way  in  which  two  of  our  brave  fellows  retreated 
from  their  toilet  was  also  for  years  kept  as  a  standing 
subject  of  jesting.  I  believe  that  it  was  their  first  and 
only  retreat.  In  going  into  the  Indian  country  the 
officers  sometimes  relaxed  vigilance  for  a  time.  Per- 
haps days  would  pass  with  no  sight  of  Indians.  At 
such  a  time  these  two  daring  fellows  went  down  the 
stream  some  distance  to  bathe,  and  to  their  delight 
found  water  deep  enough  in  which  to  swim.  They  for- 
got everything  in  the  enjoyment  of  clear  water,  for 
many  of  the  streams  west  of  the  Mississippi  are  muddy 
and  full  of  sand.  Their  horses  saved  their  lives.  Their 
attention  was  called  to  the  telltale  ears,  quivering  and 
vibrating,  the  nervous  starts  and  the  snorts  that  many 
old  cavalry  horses  give  at  sight  of  Indians  or  buffaloes. 
Heeding  these  warnings,  the  bathers  sprang  to  the 
bank.  Within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  them  Indians 
approached.  There  was  no  pause  for  clothes  or  for 
saddles.  Unfastening  their  horses,  and  with  a  leap  that 
would  have  done  credit  to  a  circus  rider,  they  sprang 
upon  the  bare  backs  of  the  terrified  horses,  and  digging 
their  naked  heels  into  the  sides  of  the  animals,  they 
ran  a  race  for  life.  Fortunately,  the  Indians  came  from 
a  direction  opposite  that  of  the  camp,  but  they  had  the 
temerity  to  follow  with  all  the  speed  of  their  swift  ponies 
until  almost  within  sight  of  the  troops.     Our  officers' 


LETTEES  DESCEIBING  THE   MARCH.  19 

perfect  horsemanship  and  the  fright  of  the  animals 
saved  their  lives.  As  the  Indians  yelled  behind  them, 
and  finally  sent  their  almost  unerring  arrows  whizzing 
about  the  ears  of  our  two  men,  they  had  little  idea  of 
escape.  When  they  entered  camp,  if  there  had  been  a 
back  way,  an  alley,  a  tree-bordered  walk,  through  which 
these  lately  imperilled  men  could  have  reached  their 
tents,  it  would  have  been  a  boon ;  but  everything  in 
military  life  is  en  evidence,  and  the  camp  is  often  laid 
out  in  one  long  line.  Past  all  these  tents,  where,  at  the 
entrance  of  each,  appeared  at  once  the  occupants,  on 
hearing  the  unusual  sound  of  horses'  flying  hoofs  with- 
in the  company  street,  and  in  the  face,  indeed,  of  all 
the  regiment,  these  nude  Gilpins  reached  their  own  can- 
vas, and  flinging  themselves  from  their  foaming  horses, 
darted  under  cover.  Then  came  the  scramble  for  other 
clotli6s,  which  was  a  very  difficult  affair,  as  few  officers 
carried  extras,  save  underclothes,  and  the  quartermaster's 
supplies  were  at  Camp  Supply,  far  in  the  rear.  But 
everyone  shares  freely  with  a  comiade  on  the  frontier, 
and  a  pair  of  pantaloons  from  one,  a  jacket  from  an- 
other, a  cap  from  a  third,  fitted  out  the  unfortunates. 

Later  a  misfortune  happened  to  one  of  these  same 
men,  our  brother  Tom,  which  bade  fair  to  oblige  him 
to  adopt  the  costume  of  his  red  brethren — a  blanket  and 
a  war-bonnet.  His  favorite  dog,  Brandy,  the  most  te- 
nacious of  bull-dogs,  refused  to  let  go  of  a  polecat  that 
he  had  chased,  with  the  dog  delusion  that  it  was  a  rab- 
bit. Colonel  Tom  plunged  into  the  fight  in  an  effort 
to  drag  Brandy  off,  when  the  animal  used  the  defence 


20  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

that  nature  has  provided,  and  Colonel  Tom's  clothes 
were  gone  the  second  time.  He  realized  that  with  tliis 
adventure  added  to  his  late  aquatic  episode,  which  had 
been  followed  by  a  deluge  of  jokes  from  his  brother 
officers,  there  would  be  no  mercy  shown  him,  and  he 
quickly  decided  to  share  with  the  others  his  unsought 
baptism.  It  was  nearly  dark ;  the  tents  were  closed, 
the  candles  lighted,  the  pipes  at  full  blast.  Captain 
Hamilton,  whose  sense  of  fun  was  irrepressible,  started 
out  with  the  victim  of  misfortune  to  pay  visits.  Sev- 
eral of  the  tents  were  crowded,  but  both  of  the  visitors 
being  jolly  men,  room  was  made  for  them ;  but  soon 
there  was  a  general  sniflfing  around  and  forcible  exple- 
tives used. about  the  dogs.  "They've  been  hunting  on 
their  own  hook  again,"  was  said,  "and  pretty  close 
here,  you  bet ;"  and  hands  were  stretched  out  for  some- 
thing with  which  to  drive  the  creatures  out.  *  The 
guests  having  made  sure  the  aroma  Tom  carried  had 
become  sufficiently  apparent,  departed,  only  to  enter 
another  crowd  farther  on.  A  tent  is  supposed  to  be 
well  ventilated ;  but  fill  one  with  officers  whose  tobac- 
co, obtained  far  away  from  a  good  base  of  supplies,  is, 
to  say  the  least,  questionable,  add  the  odor  of  rain- 
soaked  clothes,  the  wet  leather  of  troop  boots,  a  dog  or 
two  with  his  shaggy,  half-dry  coat,  and  one  can  well 
imagine  that  Colonel  Tom  was  the  traditional  "last 
straw." 

When  the  pair  had  been  in  the  second  tent  long  enough 
to  have  the  joke  take  effect,  they  bolted  out  into  the 
night,  roaring  with  laughter,  arid  then  went  on  to  a 


LETTERS   DESCRIBING   THE   MARCH.  21 

third.  The  jeers  of  the  oflScers  next  day  were  some- 
what toned  down  because  of  the  evening  episode,  but 
poor  Tom  was  around,  begging  for  clothes  again,  and 
soon  every  one  knew  that  his  own  outfit  lay  "  without 
the  camp  "  for  all  time. 

Arrests  are  not  at  all  unusual  in  military  life,  and 
the  discipline  is  so  strict  it  often  happens  that  this 
punishment  is  inflicted  for  very  small  delinquencies. 
Sometimes,  of  course,  it  is  a  serious  matter ;  a  set  of 
charges  is  preferred,  and  a  trial  by  court-martial  and 
sentence  ensue.  Still,  to  be  in  arrest  is  so  common 
that  it  is  not  in  the  least  like  the  serious  affair  of  civil 
law.  If  an  officer  was  missed  from  the  line  that  win^ 
ter,  and  inquiries  made  by  his  comrades  for  him,  his 
messmate  or  captain,  laughing  lightly,  replied,  "  Why, 
don't  you  know  he's  leading  the  pelican?"  and  this  ex- 
pression, as  a  synonym  for  being  in  arrest,  stayed  by  the 
regiment  for  a  long  time  after  the  bird  had  gone. 

The  pelican  General  Custer  refers  to  in  the  letter 
already  quoted  was  a  rare  specimen,  and  all  the  com- 
mand had  great  curiosity  about  it,  considering  it  was 
unusual  in  the  country  where  it  was  captured,  and  it 
was  also  the  first  specimen  most  of  our  command  had 
seen.  The  bird  was  carried  in  a  box  in  the  wagon  train 
that  always  travels  at  the  rear  of  a  column,  and  as  an 
officer  or  soldier  is  condemned  to  this  ignominious  po- 
sition also,  when  deprived  of  his  place  with  his  com- 
pany, it  became  the  custom  to  describe  arrest  as  "  lead- 
ing the  pelican." 

A  perfect  fusillade  of  wit  was  always  being  fired  at 


22  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

men  to  whom  accidents  had  happened  or  on  whom 
jokes  liad  been  played.  One  unfailing  subject  for  bad- 
inage was  the  matrimonial  opportunities  neglected  in 
the  winter's  campaign.  After  the  battle,  the  old  squaws 
were  as  full  of  admiration  for  the  successful  troopers  as 
they  were  for  their  liege  lords,  and  the  willingness  to 
part  with  their  daughters  was  quite  equal  to  that  of 
the  predatory  mother  in  the  States,  who  is  accused  of 
roaming  from  one  watering-place  to  another  in  search 
of  game.  But  the  primitive  mother  and  father  resort 
to  no  subtle  plan  ;  they  offer  their  daughters  outright. 
One  officer  was  proffered  a  dusky  bride  by  her  father, 
and  a  cup  of  sugar  was  asked  for  in  exchange ;  while 
the  commanding  officer,  after  hearing  a  mysterious 
mumbling  going  on  near  him,  found  himself  already 
married,  before  any  formal  tender  of  the  girl  had  been 
made  by  the  parents.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the 
fathers  and  mothers  were  made  to  understand  that 
among  white  people  a  man  was  required  by  our  laws 
to  content  himself  with  one  partner  at  a  time. 

There  were  many  references  to  the  scouts  in  Gen- 
eral Custer's  letters,  and  the  subject  was  an  unfailing 
source  of  interest  to  me,  so  much  romance  attends  the 
stories  of  these  men's  lives.  Osage  Indians  were  em- 
ployed, being  not  only  at  peace  with  us,  but  imbittered 
against  the  Indians  by  the  marauding  of  hostile  tribes 
on  their  herds  of  ponies  and  their  villages. 

I  find  a  few  words  about  these  friendly  Indians  in  a 
letter  General  Custer  wrote  to  a  friend  at  that  time : 
"Yesterday  my  twelve  Osage  guides  joined  me,  and 


LETTEKS   DESCRIBING   THE   MAECH.  23 

they  are  a  splendid-looking  set  of  warrioi*s,  headed  by 
one  of  their  chiefs  called  'Little  Beaver.'  They  are 
painted  and  dressed  for  the  war-path,  and  well  armed 
with  Springfield  breech-loading  guns.  All  are  superb 
horsemen.  We  mounted  them  on  good  horses,  and  to 
show  us  how  they  can  ride  and  shoot,  they  took  a  stick 
of  ordinary  cord -wood,  threw  it  on  the  ground,  and 
then,  mounted  on  their  green,  untried  horses,  they  rode 
at  full  speed  and  fired  at  the  stick  of  wood  as  they  flew 
by,  and  every  shot  struck  the  target." 


^be  GeneraL 


-4r— I '   ^^ !-— I 1- h-^t 1 ^^^ ' f- 


rf: 


iiSigj^pi^a^s 


r-4 


^^g^^^^^ 


=E^ 


^^^^^\ 


til. 


CHAPTER  III. 


WHITE     SCOUTS. 


The  scouts  and  friendly  Indians  were  an  indepen- 
dent command  that  winter,  and  afforded  much  inter- 
est and'  variety  to  the  whole  regiment.  They  each  re- 
ceived seventy-five  dollars  a  month  and  a  ration,  and 
whoever  took  the  regiment  to  an  Indian  village  was 
to  receive  one  hundred  dollars  additional. 

A  half-breed  Arapahoe  boy  was  the  beauty  of  the 
command.    He  was  nineteen  years  old ;  his  eyes,  large, 


WHITE   SCOUTS.  25 

soft,  and  lustrous,  were  shaded  by  long  lashes.  I  had 
been  amazed  at  the  tiny  feet  of  the  Delawares  the  sum- 
mer before,  but  this  lad's  feet  were  smaller,  and  the 
moccasin  showed  them  to  be  perfect  in  shape.  His 
hair  was  long  and  black.  He  was  educated,  but  it  was 
a  disappointment  to  me  in  hearing  of  him  to  find  that 
he  called  himself  Andrew  Jackson  Fitzpatrick.  With 
the  ardor  of  a  novel  reader,  I  should  have  preferred  at 
that  time  that  he  should  lift  the  fringes  of  his  soulful 
eyes  in  response  to  a  Claude  or  a  Reginald.  Indians 
not  only  lose  tlieir  picturesqueness  when  they  encoun- 
ter the  white  man,  but  they  choose  the  most  prosaic 
names  in  place  of  their  own  nmsical  appellations. 
Think  how  "  Running  Antelope,"  or  "  the  Eagle  that 
flies,"  or  "Fall  Leaf"  would  have  suited  this  boy. 

One  of  the  scouts  had  a  nickname  that  ought  to 
have  pleased  the  most  romantic,  but  the  trouble  in  his 
case  was  that  he  did  not  fit  the  name.  His  real  name 
was  Romero,  for  he  was  a  Mexican,  and  the  ofiicers 
soon  dropped  into  calling  him  Romeo.  His  short, 
stocky  figure,  swarthy  skin,  and  coarse  features  made 
him  a  typical  "  Greaser,"  and  quite  the  replica  of  many 
we  had  seen  in  Texas ;  but  Romeo  had  lived  with  the 
Indians  and  spoke  Cheyenne. 

Another  scout  was  a  New  Yorker  by  birth,  who  emi- 
grated to  Michigan  in  1836,  thence  to  Texas,  and  final- 
ly to  Kansas.  He  was  over  fifty,  and  gray-headed.  It 
is  surprising  how  wonderfully  men  no  longer  young 
endure  the  hardships  of  this  life.  There  is  something 
remarkably  preservative  about  the  air  of  the  plains. 


26  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

When  we  read  now  of  the  reunion  of  the  Forty-niners, 
and  learn  what  jovial  hours  they  are  capable  of  enjoy- 
ing even  after  their  years  of  privation,  we  are  forced 
to  conclude  that  a  life  sheltered  from  the  rigors  of  cli- 
mate and  spared  all  deprivation  is  not  the  longest,  and 
surely  not  the  merriest;  When  a  man's  entire  posses- 
sions are  strapped  in  a  small  roll  at  the  back  of  his  sad- 
dle, and  his  horse  and  outfit  constitute  his  fortune,  he 
is  not  going  to  lie  awake  nights  wondering  what  are 
safe  investments  for  capital. 

After  the  campaign  I  saw  the  scouts,  and  though  the 
winter  of  1866  was  the  time  of  California  Joe's  first 
appearance  among  us,  it  was  not  long  before  I  was  in- 
troduced to  him.  It  was  not  my  privilege  to  hear  him 
talk  for  some  time,  as  he  was  as  bashful  before  a  wom- 
an as  a  school-boy.  The  general  arranged  a  little  plan 
one  day  by  which  I  could  hear  him.  I  was  sent  into 
the  rear  tent  and  specially  charged  to  keep  quiet,  as 
Joe  could  not  talk  without  interlarding  his  sentences 
with  oaths,  many  of  them  of  his  own  invention,  and 
consequently  all  the  more  terrible  to  me  because  so  un- 
familiar. A  new  oath  seems  much  more  profane  and 
vastly  more  startling  than  those  one  hears  commonly 
about  the  streets.  At  the  time  I  listened  to  him  sur- 
reptitiously he  had  been  called  to  attend  court  at  the 
capital  of  Kansas,  and  had  made  his  first  journey  on  a 
railroad.  He  complained  bitterly  of  the  hardships  of 
railway  travel.  The  car  was  too  small,  too  warm,  too 
fast,  too  everything  to  suit  him.  The  officer  who  en- 
countered him  at  Topeka  said  that  Joe  seized  upon  him 


CALIFORNIA  JOE- 


WHITE   SCOUTS.  27 

with  ardor,  as  being  a  link  with  his  real  life,  and  that 
he  "  never  wanted  to  board  them  air  keers  agin,  and 
was  durned  sorry  he  hadn't  fetched  his  mule ;  he  would 
a  heap  sight  ruther  go  back  on  the  old  critter."  He 
was  too  nmch  dissatisfied  with  civilization  for  any  one 
to  doubt  for  one  moment  that  he  would  willingly  have 
taken  the  four  hundred  miles  on  horseback  in  prefer- 
ence to  "  them  air  wheezing,  racing,  red-hot  boxes  they 
shet  a  man  in."  After  his  return  he  came  to  our  tent 
dressed  in  what  the  officers  call  "  cit's  "  clothes,  which 
he  termed  "  store  clothes."  His  long,  flowing  hair  and 
shaggy  beard  were  shorn,  and  his  picturesqueness  gone. 
One  cheek  was  rounded  out  with  his  beloved  "ter- 
baccy,"  and  he  told  the  general  he  had  "  took  his  last 
journey  on  them  pesky  keers  "  ;  and  when  asked  if  he 

didn't  like  the  States,  said,  "  D n  a  country  where 

you  have  to  wear  a  shirt-collar."  He  told  us  that  he 
had  been  West  forty  years,  and  much  of  the  time  be- 
yond the  Eockies.  He  considered  Kansas  so  far  East 
that  he  "reckoned  his  folks  would  be  thinking  he 
was  on  his  way  home  if  they  heard  of  him  in  there." 
At  that  time  we  were  in  the  midst  of  such  a  wilder- 
ness it  did  not  seem  to  us  sufficiently  far  eastward  to 
induce  any  one  to  think  we  were  anywhere  but  on  the 
stepping  -  off  place.  It  was  only  to  show  off  that  he 
came  in  his  travelling  costume.  The  buckskin  and  flan- 
nel shirt  soon  appeared,  but  it  took  some  time  before 
his  hair  and  beard  grew  out  long  enough  to  make  him 
look  natural. 

When  California  Joe  first  joined  the  general  in  the 


28  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

Washita  country  he  studied  him  pretty  thoroughly. 
In  his  rough  vernacular,  he  wanted  to  "  size  him  up," 
and  see  if  he  was  really  soldier  enough  for  him  to  "  fol- 
ler."  The  contrast  between  a  plainsman's  independence 
and  the  deference  and  respect  for  rank  that  is  instilled 
into  a  soldier  is  very  marked.  The  enlisted  man  rarely 
speaks  to  his  superior  unless  spoken  to,  and  he  usually 
addresses  an  officer  in  the  third  person.  The  scout,  on 
the  contrary,  owns  the  plains,  according  to  his  views, 
and  he  addresses  the  stranger  or  the  military  man  with 
an  air  of  perfect  equality ;  but  long  acquaintance  with 
their  ways  taught  me  that  at  heart  these  men  were  just 
as  full  of  deference  for  any  brave  man  they  served  as 
is  the  soldier.  In  coming  to  an  understanding  with 
the  general  regarding  his  giving  his  services  as  scout, 
Joe  asked  his  commander  a  few  pointed  questions  about 
himself.  He  wished  to  know  how  he  intended  to  hunt 
Indians.  There  had  been  some  officers  whom  he  had 
known  who  had  gone  to  war  in  a  wagon ;  the  troopers 
called  them  "feather-bed  soldiers."  So  Joe  said: 
"  S'pose  you're  after  Injuns,  and  really  want  to  liev  a 
tussle-  with  'em,  would  ye  start  after  'em  on  hossback, 
or  would  ye  climb  into  an  ambulance  and  be  hauled 
after  'em?  That's  the  pint  I'm  headin'  for."  After 
putting  the  general  through  such  a  catechism,  he  de- 
cided to  let  himself  be  employed,  as  it  was  evident 
from  his  own  impressions,  and  from  what  he  had  heard, 
that  there  was  not  much  doubt  that  the  chief  was,  in 
his  own  language,  "  spilin'  for  a  fight"  just  as  much  as 
he  hiniself  was. 


WHITE  SCOUTS.  29 

Joe  was  made  the  chief  of  scouts  at  once ;  but  hon- 
ors did  not  sit  easily  upon  him,  for  in  celebrating  his 
advancement  he  made  night  hideous  with  his  yells. 
The  scout  gets  drunk  just  as  he  does  everything  else — 
with  all  his  might.  Living  all  his  life  beyond  the  re- 
gion of  law  and  its  enforcement ;  being  a  perfect  shot, 
he  is  able,  usually,  to  carry  out  his  spree  according  to 
his  own  wishes.  He  tells  the  man  who  might  express 
a  wish  for  a  peaceful,  quiet  night  that  he  had  better 
not  "  tackle  "  him,  and  emphasizes  his  remark  by  draw- 
ing out  of  the  small  arsenal  that  encircles  liis  body  a 
pistol,  which,  pointed  accurately,  renders  the  average 
man  quick  to  say,  "  It's  of  no  consequence,"  and  retire. 
I  do  not  even  like  to  say  that  the  scouts  were  ever 
drunk,  for  they  were  profoundly  sober  when  they  went 
off  on  their  perilous  journeys  with  despatches;  and 
when  I  think  how  all  our  lives  were  in  their  hands 
when  they  were  sent  for  succor,  and  how  often  they 
took  messages  across  country  to  put  troops  or  settle- 
ments on  their  guard,  or  of  a  hundred  other  daring 
deeds  of  theirs,  1  prefer  to  remember  only  the  faith- 
ful discharge  of  duty,  not  the  carousal  that  sometimes 
followed  the  reaction  caused  by  overstrained  nerves 
and  the  relief  from  hours  and  days  of  impending 
death. 

Anticipating  a  little,  I  remember  that  California  Joe 
was  selected  for  the  most  important  scouting  duty  of 
the  winter,  which  was  nothing  less  than  the  transmis- 
sion of  the  despatch  announcing  the  success  of  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Washita.     The  command  was  then  far  away 


30  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

from  Camp  Supply ;  it  was  midwinter,  and  the  Ind- 
ians were  thoroughly  aroused  and  on  guard.  It  was 
not  known  how  great  the  distance  was  that  he  must 
traverse,  but  the  troops  had  taken  four  days  to  accom- 
plish it.  Joe  was  asked  how  many  scouts  he  would 
like  to  take,  and  after  going  off  to  deliberate,  return- 
ed, with  the  reply  that  he  "  didn't  want  no  more  ner 
his  pardner,  fur  in  this  'ere  bizness  more  is  made  by 
dodgin'  and  runnin'  than  by  tightin'."  At  dark  he 
started,  without  giving  the  slightest  evidence  that  he 
regarded  the  perilous  undertaking  as  anything  more 
than  a  commonplace  occurrence. 

One  peculiarity  of  these  men  was  their  evident  in- 
ability to  feel  surprise ;  the  most  extraordinary  occur- 
rences made  so  little  impression  upon  them  that  it 
would  seem  as  if  they  must  have  had  a  previous  ex- 
istence, and  become  familiar  in  another  life  with  the 
strange  events  which  made  ns  gasp  with  astonishment. 
How  often  I  have  heard  the  officers  refer  to  the  variety 
these  men  made  in  the  tedium  of  the  march,  by  their 
stories  of  adventure,  their  wit,  and  their  fearless  and 
original  expression  of  views!  It  was  conceded  that 
they  "  drew  a  long  bow "  sometimes,  but  the  tales  of 
their  own  lives  were  startling  enough  without  the  least 
necessity  for  exaggeration. 

One  story  from  the  mines  was  told  me,  and  may  have 
lost  nothing  in  the  telling.  An  Irishman  who  was 
pretty  drunk  fell  into  a  shaft  sixty-five  feet  deep.  He 
picked  himself  up  unhurt,  but  partially  sobered,  and 
seeing  a  passage  leading  into  the  open  air,  he  made  his 


WHITE   SCOUTS.  31 

way  out  to  the  side  of  the  mountain.  Tlien  he  walked 
up  till  he  reached  the  shaft,  and  looking  down  into  its 
depths,  was  heard  to  say,  "  Be  gorry,  and  I'm  thinking 
it  would  kill  me  if  I  was  to  fall  down  there  agin." 

The  scouts  and  frontiersmen  were  not  slow  to  express 
their  opinion  on  the  few  women  they  encountered,  and 
a  tale  was  told  of  a  family  consisting  of  a  mother  and 
several  strapping  daughters  who  lived  in  a  cabin  on  the 
route  over  which  cattle  were  driven  to  market.  Tlie 
"  gals,"  as  the  Western  man  terms  them,  took  care  of 
some  cows,  and  the  narrator  of  the  story  stopped  there 
to  get  milk.  As  he  sat  near  the  fire  smoking,  the  raw- 
boned,  shrivelled  old  mother  bent  over  the  fireplace 
puffing  at  a  clay  pipe,  perfectly  stolid  and  silent,  until 
one  girl  came  in  and  silently  stood  at  the  fire  trying 
to  dry  her  homespun  dress.  Without  raising  herself, 
and  in  a  drawling  tone,  the  mother  said,  presently, 
"  Sal,  there's  a  coal  under  you  f ut."  In  no  more  ani- 
mated tone  and  without  even  moving,  her  offspring 
replied,  "Which  fut,  mammy  ?"  The  girl  had  run  bare- 
foot all  her  life  over  the  shale  and  rough  ground  of 
that  country,  and  the  red-hot  coal  was  some  time  in 
making  its  way  through  the  hard  surface  to  a  tissue 
that  had  any  sensitiveness. 

The  widow  of  a  miner,  who  kept  boarders,  was  also  on 
the  scant  list  of  female  acquaintances  of  one  of  the  fron- 
tiersmen, who  describes  a  person  called  the  "  bouncer," 
who  seems  to  be  a  well-recognized  functionary  in  such 
establishments.  He  is  always  big  and  strong,  and  his 
duties  consist  in  bringing  to  time  people  who  neglect 


32  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

to  pay  their  bill,  and  for  this  service  he  is  boarded  with- 
out charge.  An  Eastern  man,  a  "  tenderfoot,"  on  one 
occasion  asked  some  one  to  pass  the  gravy,  whereupon 
the  bouncer  placed  his  pistol  on  the  table  and  quietly 
remarked, "  Any  man  as  calls  sop  gravy  has  got  to  eat 
dust  or  'pologize." 

At  that  time  we  all  returned  to  civilization  with  a 
goodly  collection  of  frontier  stories  that  had  not  found 
their  way  into  the  omnivorous  newspaper,  and  our  talk 
was  full  of  allusions  to  jokes  among  ourselves,  or  to 
portions  of  these  way-side  tales  that  we  had  appropri- 
ated, because  they  fitted  into  our  daily  life  so  well.  We 
believed,  and  there  was  no  reason  why  we  should  doubt 
it,  that  the  amusing  or  venturesome  stories  of  these  men 
were  their  own  experiences,  and  I  need  not  dwell  upon 
the  zest  it  gives  to  the  listener  when  the  hero  of  a  tale 
is  present  as  he  tells  it. 

Another  relief  to  the  weariness  of  a  march  was  hunt- 
ing game,  which  was  so  plentiful  that  no  one  need  run 
the  risk  of  straying  far  from  the  command  in  search  of 
it.  The  wild  turkeys  were  the  greatest  treat  of  all,  that 
winter,  and  there  were  so  many  of  them  that  the  sol- 
diers' messes  had  all  they  wanted  while  the  command 
remained  in  the  locality  they  frequented.  A  former 
officer  of  General  Sheridan's  staff  has  been  only  recent- 
ly reminding  me  of  what  a  feast  they  were.  In  the 
vicinity  of  the  Antelope  Hills  the  trees  were  black  with 
these  wild-fowl. 

One  of  the  officers  afforded  great  amusement  at  the 
time,  and  gave  opportunity  for  many  a  sly  allusion  dur- 


WHITE   SCOUTS.  33 

ing  the  winter  because  of  an  attack  of  "  buck  fever." 
At  sight  of  a  tree  weighed  down  to  the  ends  of  the 
branches  with  turkeys,  he  became  incapable  of  loading, 
to  say  nothing  of  firing,  his  gun ;  he  could  do  nothing 
but  lie  down,  great  strong  man  as  he  was,  completely 
overcome  with  excitement.  At  one  point  where  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  and  his  stafiE  came  upon  an  immense  num- 
ber of  turkeys,  they  sent  videttes  on  the  neighboring 
hills  to  keep  watch  for  Indians,  and  then  began  to  shoot 
the  fowls.  Between  half-past  five  and  half-past  seven 
they  killed  sixty-three  with  rifles.  The  place  where  they 
first  came  upon  this  game  is  now  marked  on  the  map 
as  "  Sheridan's  Roost."  This  ofiicer  remembers  to  have 
seen  General  Custer  cut  the  head  from  a  turkey  with 
a  Spencer  repeating  rifle  at  two  hundred  yards.  The 
poor  soldiers,  armed  only  with  their  short-range  carbines, 
of  course  saw  many  a  shot  go  foul,  but  if  they  happened 
to  be  the  selected  orderlies  of  the  officers  they  were  often 
permitted  to  use  the  rifle,  and  in  a  case  where  an  officer 
had  two,  the  soldier  riding  behind  h's  commanding  offi- 
cer proudly  carried  the  second  best.  I  know  that  when 
General  Custer  and  his  orderly  returned  from  a  hunt, 
their  eyes  like  coals,  so  brilliant  were  they,  and  with 
every  evidence  of  suppressed  excitement,  yet  neither, 
as  is  the  custom  of  the  army,  speaking  a  word,  I  used  to 
accuse  the  commanding  officer  of  only  waiting  to  get 
beyond  the  first  bluff  that  separated  him  from  the  camp 
before  he  forgot  to  be  military,  and  fell  to  talking  with 
the  enlisted  man.  There  is  so  much  in  common  among 
enthusiastic  sportsmen ! 
3 


34  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

The  soldiers  knew  how  to  make  the  best  of  their 
short-range  gans,  and  many  of  them  became  such  ac- 
curate marksmen  that  they  could  select  the  particular 
part  to  be  hit,  and  not  tear  the  game  into  shreds  with 
their  large  bullets.  The  best  shots  in  a  company  were 
allowed  to  leave  the  column  and  bring  in  game  for  the 
rest.  At  night,  when  the  troops  were  bivouacked,  the 
fires  lighted  for  the  soldiers'  suppers,  the  men  hovered 
around  the  coming  dinner,  rejoicing  in  its  savory  smells, 
suggesting  to  the  company  cook  their  ideas  of  how 
game  should  be  prepared,  and  calling  out  triumphantly 
to  any  neighboring  mess  whose  hunters  had  not  been 
so  fortunate  as  their  own.  Think  what  it  must  have 
been  to  vary  the  frugal  bacon  of  daily  use  with  rump 
steaks  of  the  buffalo  or  toothsome  morsels  of  wild  tur- 
key! The  men  needed  no  sauces  or  jellies  to  whet 
the  appetite  or  improve  the  flavor;  that  would  have 
been  "painting  the  lily"  in  their  eyes.  There  has  been 
much  criticism  regarding  the  destruction  of  the  buffa- 
lo, but  in  the  case  of  our  soldiei-s  it  was  often  a  health 
measure,  as  the  use  of  salt  meat  and  absence  of  vege- 
tables produced  scurvy. 

All  this  hunting,  joking,  story-telling  on  the  march, 
and  around  the  camp-fire,  lost  some  of  its  charm,  how- 
ever, as  winter  really  set  in.  Although  it  is  the  cus- 
tom of  soldiers  to  make  light  of  hardships,  there  were 
new  features  in  this  winter's  campaign  which  needed 
all  their  fortitude  to  meet  and  endure. 


QhntQC I 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BATTLE   OF  THE   WASHITA. 

The  orders  for  moving  towards  the  Indian  Tillage 
were  issued  on  the  evening  of  November  22d.  It 
began  to  snow,  and  our  men  stood  round  the  camp-fire 
for  their  breakfast  at  five  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
the  snow  almost  up  to  their  knees.  The  Seventh,  con- 
sisting of  nine  hundred  men,  were  to  leave  General 
Sheridan  and  the  infantry,  and  all  the  extra  wagons 
and  supplies,  and  strike  out  into  this  blinding  storm. 
General  Sheridan,  awake  with  anxiety  at  reveille,  called 
out  to  ask  what  General  Custer  thought  about  the  snow 
and  the  storm.  The  reply  was,  "All  the  better  for  us ; 
we  can  move,  the  Indian  cannot."  The  packing  was 
soon  done,  as  every  ounce  of  superfluous  baggage  was 
left  behind,  and  forward  our  brave  fellows  pushed  into 
the  slowly  coming  dawn. 

The  air  was  so  filled  with  the  fine  snow  that  it  was 
perilous  to  separate  one's  self  even  a  short  distance  from 
the  column.  The  Indian  guides  could  not  see  any  land- 
marks, and  had  it  not  been  for  the  compass  of  the  com- 


36  FOLLOWING  THB   GUIDON. 

manding  officer,  an  advance  would  have  been  impossi- 
ble. The  fifteen  miles  of  the  first  day's  march  would 
have  been  a  small  affair  except  for  the  snow ;  but 
the  day  dragged,  and  when  at  night  camp  was  made  in 
some  timber  bordering  a  creek,  the  snow  still  fell  so 
fast  that  the  officers  themselves  helped  to  shovel  it  away 
while  the  soldiers  stretched  the  small  amount  of  canvas 
that  was  spread.  Fortunately,  even  at  that  late  season, 
fresh  meat  was  secured  for  all  the  command,  for  in  the 
underbrush  of  the  streams  one  out  of  a  group  of  be- 
numbed buffaloes  was  easily  killed. 

In  crossing  the  Canadian  River,  the  quicksands,  the 
floating  snow  and  ice,  were  faced  uncomplainingly,  and 
the  nine  hundred  wet  soldiers  started  up  the  opposite 
side  without  a  murmur. 

Finally  the  Indian  trail,  so  long  looked  for,  was 
struck,  and  the  few  wagons  were  ordered  to  halt ;  and 
only  such  supplies  as  could  be  carried  on  the  person  or 
the  horse,  consisting  of  rations,  forage,  and  a  hundred 
rounds  of  ammunition  for  each  trooper,  were  taken. 
The  detail  of  the  officer  to  remain  with  the  train  (al- 
ways assigned  according  to  turn)  fell  to  one  of  the 
finest  of  our  officers.  But  Captain  Hamilton  was  not 
to  yield  his  privilege  of  being  in  a  fight  so  readily. 
He  appealed  to  go,  and  finally  the  commanding  officer 
thought  out  a  way  by  which  it  might  be  accomplished, 
for  he  was  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  soldier 
spirit  of  this  dauntless  young  fellow.  If  another  officer 
could  be  found  to  take  his  place,  he  could  be  relieved 
from  the  odious  detail.     One  of  the  Seventh  was  suf- 


BATTLE  OF   THE   WASHITA.  37 

fering  from  snow-blindness,  and  to  this  misfortune  was 
Captain  Hamilton  indebted  for  his  change  of  duty. 
In  the  long  confidential  talks  about  tTie  camp-fires  he 
had  expressed  an  ardent  desire  to  be  in  an  Indian  fight, 
and  when  the  subject  of  death  came  up,  as  it  did  in 
the  wide  range  of  subjects  that  comrades  in  arms  dis- 
cussed, he  used  to  say,  "  When  my  hour  to  die  comes, 
I  hope  that  I  shall  be  shot  through  the  heart  in 
battle." 

The  first  hours  of  following  the  trail  were  terribly 
hard.  Men  and  horses  suffered  for  food,  for  from  four 
in  the  morning  till  nine  at  night  no  halt  could  be 
made.  Then  by  hiding  under  the  deep  banks  of  the 
stream,  fires  were  lighted,  and  the  men  had  coffee  and 
the  horses  oats;  but  no  bugle  sounded,  no  voice  was 
raised,  as  the  Indians  might  be  dangerously  near.  The 
advance  was  taken  up  again  with  the  Indian  guides 
creeping  stealthily  along  in  front,  tracing  as  best  they 
could  the  route  of  their  foes.  The  soldier  was  even 
deprived  of  his  beloved  pipe,  for  a  spark  might,  at  that 
moment,  lose  all  which  such  superhuman  efforts  had 
been  put  forth  to  gain. 

After  what  seemed  an  interminable  time,  the  ashes 
of  a  fire  lately  extinguished  were  discovered ;  then  far- 
ther on  a  dog  barked,  and  finally  the  long-looked-for 
Indian  village  was  discovered  by  the  cry  of  a  baby. 
General  Custer  in  his  accounts  stops  to  say  how  keen 
were  his  regrets,  even  with  the  memory  fresh  in  mind 
of  the  atrocities  committed  by  Indians,  where  white 
infants'  brains  had  been  dashed  out  to  stop  their  cry- 


38  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

ing,  that  war  must  be  brought  to  tlie  fireside  of  even  a 
savage. 

The  rest  of  tlie  night  was  spent  in  posting  the  com- 
mand on  different  sides  of  tlie  village,  in  snatching  a 
brief  sleep,  stretched  out  on  the  snow,  and  in  longing 
for  daybreak.  Excitement  kept  the  ardent  soldiers 
warm,  and  when  the  band  put  their  cold  lips  to  the 
still  colder  metal,  and  struck  up  "Garryowen,"  the 
soldiers'  hearts  were  bursting  with  enthusiasm  and  joy 
at  the  glory  that  awaited  them.  At  the  sound  of  the 
bugles  blowing  on  the  still  morning  air — the  few  spir- 
ited notes  of  the  call  to  "charge" — in  went  the  few 
hundred  men  as  confidently  as  if  there  had  been  thou- 
sands of  them,  and  a  reserve  corps  at  the  rear. 

All  the  marching  scenes,  hunting  experiences,  the 
quips  and  quirks  of  the  camp-fire,  the  jokes  of  the  offi- 
cers at  each  other's  expense,  the  hardships  of  the  win- 
ter, the  strange  and  interesting  scouts,  are  as  familiar 
to  me  as  oft-told  tales  come  to  be,  and  in  going  back 
and  gathering  them  here  and  there  in  the  recesses  of 
memory,  aided  by  General  Custer's  letters,  magazine 
accounts,  and  ofiicial  reports,  the  whole  scene  spreads 
out  before  me  as  the  modern  diorama  unrolls  from  its 
cylinder  the  events  that  are  past.  Often  as  this  battle 
has  been  talked  over  before  me,  I  do  not  feel  myself 
especially  impressed  with  its  military  details  ;  woman- 
like, the  cry  of  the  Indian  baby,  the  capture  of  a  white 
woman,  the  storm  that  drenched  our  brave  men,  are  all 
fresher  in  my  memory,  and  come  to  my  pen  more  read- 
ily, than  the  actual  charging  and  fighting.     I  therefore 


BATTLE   OF   THE   WASHITA.  39 

make  extracts  from  General  Custer's  very  condensed 
official  report,  instead  of  telling  the  story  myself. 

Headquarters  Seventh  Cavalry, 

Camp  on  Washita,  November  28,  '68. 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th,  eleven  companies  of  the 
Seventh  Cavalry  struck  an  Indian  trail  numbering  one  hun- 
dred (not  quite  twenty-four  hours  old)  near  the  point  where 
the  Texas  boundary  line  crosses  the  Canadian  River 

When  the  Osage  trailers  reported  a  village  within  a  mile 
of  the  advance,  the  column  was  countermarched  and  with- 
drawn to  a  retired  point  to  avoid  discovery.  After  all  the 
officers  had  reconnoitred  the  location  of  the  village,  which 
was  situated  in  a  strip  of  heavy  timber,  the  command  was 
divided  into  four  columns  of  nearly  equal  strength.  One 
was  to  attack  in  the  woods  from  below  the  village.  The  sec- 
ond was  to  move  down  the  Washita  and  attack  in  the  tim- 
ber from  above.  The  third  was  to  attack  from  the  crest 
north  of  the  village,  while  the  fourth  was  to  charge  from  the 
crest  overlooking  the  village  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Wash- 
ita. The  columns  were  to  charge  simultaneously  at  dawn  of 
day ;  though  some  of  them  had  to  march  several  miles  to  gain 
their  positions,  three  of  them  made  the  attack  so  near  to- 
gether that  it  seemed  like  one  charge.  The  fourth  was  only 
a  few  moments  late.  The  men  charged  and  reached  the 
lodges  before  the  Indians  were  aware  of  their  presence.  The 
moment  the  advance  was  ordered  the  band  struck  up  "  Gar- 
ryowen,"  and  with  cheers  every  trooper,  led  by  his  officer, 
rushed  towards  the  village.  The  Indians  were  caught  nap^ 
ping  for  once.  The  warriors  rushed  from  their  lodges  and 
posted  themselves  behind  trees  and  in  deep  ravines,  from 
which  they  began  a  most  determined  resistance.  Within 
ten  minutes  after  the  charge  the  lodges  and  all  their  contents 
were  in  our  possession,  but  the  real  lighting,  such  as  has 
been  rarely,  if  ever,  equalled  in  Indian  warfare,  began  when 


40  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

attempting  to  drive  out  or  kill  the  warriors  posted  in  ravines 
or  ambush.  Charge  after  charge  was  made,  and  most  gal- 
lantly too,  but  the  Indians  had  resolved  to  sell  their  lives  as 
dearly  as  possible.  The  conflict  ended  after  some  hours. 
The  entire  village,  numbering  (47)  forty -seven  lodges  of 
Black  Kettle's  band  of  Cheyennes,  (2)  two  lodges  of  Arap- 
ahoes,  (2)  two  lodges  of  Sioux — (51)  fifty-one  lodges  in  all, 
under  command  of  their  principal  chief,  Black  Kettle — were 
conquered. 

The  Indians  left  on  the  ground  (103)  one  hundred  and 
three  warriors,  including  Black  Kettle,  whose  scalp  was  taken 
by  an  Osage  guide.  875  horses  and  mules  were  captured, 
241  saddles  (some  of  fine  and  costly  workmanship),  573  buf- 
falo-robes, 390  buffalo-skins  for  lodges,  160  untanned  robes, 
210  axes,  140  hatchets,  35  revolvers,  47  rifles,  535  pounds  of 
powder,  1050  pounds  of  lead,  4000  arrows  and  arrow-heads, 
75  spears,  90  bullet  moulds,  35  bows  and  quivers,  12  shields, 
300  pounds  of  bullets,  775  lariats,  940  buckskin  saddle-bags, 
470  blankets,  93  coats,  700  pounds  of  tobacco ;  all  the  win- 
ter supply  of  dried  buffalo  meat,  all  the  meal  flour,  and  other 
provisions ;  in  fact,  all  they  possessed  was  captured,  as  the 
warriors  escaped  with  little  or  no  clothing.  Everything  of 
value  was  destroyed.  53  prisoners  were  taken,  squaws  and 
their  children ;  among  the  prisoners  are  the  survivors  of 
Black  Kettle  and  the  family  of  Little  Rock.  Two  white 
children,  captives  with  the  Indians,  were  captured.  One 
white  woman  in  their  possession  was  murdered  by  her  cap- 
tors the  moment  the  attack  was  made.  A  white  boy,  10 
years  old,  a  captive,  had  his  entrails  ripped  out  with  a  knife 
by  a  squaw.  The  Kiowas,  under  Satanta,  and  Arapahoes, 
under  Little  Raven,  were  encamped  six  miles  below  Black 
Kettle's  village.  The  warriors  from  these  two  villages  came 
to  attempt  the  rescue  of  the  Cheyennes.  They  attacked  the 
command  from  all  sides,  about  noon,  hoping  to  recover  the 
squaws  and  the. herd  of  the  Cheyennes. 


BATTLE   OF  THE   WASHITA.  41 

Though  displaying  great  boldness,  about  three  o'clock  the 
cavalry  countercharged,  and  they  were  driven  in  all  direc- 
tions and  pursued  several  miles.  The  entire  coramand  was 
then  moved  in  search  of  the  villages  of  the  Kiowas  and  Arap- 
ahoes,  but  after  an  eight-mile  march  it  was  ascertained  that 
they  had  taken  fright  at  the  fate  of  the  Cheyennes,  and  fled. 

The  command  was  then  three  days'  march  from  the  train 
of  supplies,  and  the  trail  having  led  over  a  country  cut  up  by 
ravines  and  other  obstructions,  difficult  even  for  cavalry,  it 
was  impossible  to  bring  the  wagons  on.  The  supplies  which 
each  man  carried  were  nearly  exhausted,  the  men  were  wea- 
ried from  loss  of  sleep,  and  the  horses  in  the  same  condition 
for  want  of  forage.  About  8  p.  m.  the  return  march  was  be- 
gun, and  continued  until  the  wagons  were  reached.  In  the 
excitement  of  the  fight,  as  well  as  in  self-defence,  some  of  the 
squaws  and  a  few  children  were  killed  and  wounded ;  the  lat- 
ter were  brought  on  under  medical  care.  Many  of  the  squaws 
were  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands,  and  several  soldiers  were 
wounded  by  them.  In  one  small  ravine  38  warriors  were 
found  dead,  showing  the  desperation  of  the  conflict.  Two 
officers.  Major  Elliott  and  Captain  Hamilton,  were  killed,  and 
19  enlisted  men.     Captain  Barnitz  was  seriously  wounded. 

The  command  marched  through  snow-storms  and 
rough  country,  sleeping  without  tents ;  and  the  night 
before  the  attack  the  men  stood  for  hours  by  their 
horses  awaiting  the  moment  of  attack,  when  the  ther- 
mometer was  far  below  freezing-point.  No  one  com- 
plained, the  one  regret  being  that  "  the  gallant  spirits 
who  fell  were  among  the  bravest  and  best." 

Many  of  the  squaws  and  children  fought  like  the 
Indians,  darting  in  and  out  and  firing  with  cool  aim 
from  the  opening  of  the  tepees.    Some  of  these  squaws 


42  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

followed  in  the  retreat,  but  there  were  some  still  pru- 
dent enough  to  remain  out  of  sight.  While  the  fight 
was  going  on  they  sang  dirges  in  the  minor  key,  all 
believing  their  own  last  hour  had  come.  Captain 
Smith  was  sent  round  before  the  fight  was  ended  to 
count  the  tepees  for  the  official  report.  The  squaws 
and  children  fired  away  at  him  so  fast  tliat  he  told  his 
wife  afterwards,  "  The  first  count  of  those  lodges  was 
made  pretty  quick,  as  the  confounded  popping  kept 
up  all  the  time." 

The  attention  of  Captain  Yates  was  attracted  to  the 
glittering  of  something  bright  in  the  underbrush.  In 
a  moment  a  shot  from  a  pistol  explained  that  the  glis- 
tening object  was  the  barrel  of  a  pistol,  and  he  was 
warned  by  his  soldiers  that  it  was  a  squaw  who  had 
aimed  for  him,  and  was  preparing  to  fire  again.  He 
then  went  round  a  short  distance  to  investigate,  and 
found  a  squaw  standing  in  the  stream,  one  leg  broken, 
but  holding  her  pappoose  closely  to  her.  The  look  of 
malignant  hate  in  her  eyes  was  something  a  little  worse 
than  any  venomous  expression  he  had  ever  seen.  She 
resisted  most  vigorously  every  attempt  to  capture  her, 
though  the  agony  of  her  shattered  limb  must  have 
been  extreme.  When  slie  found  that  her  pistol  was 
likely  to  be  taken,  she  threw  it  far  from  her  in  the 
stream,  and  fought  fiercely  again.  At  last  they  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  her  pappoose,  and  she  surrendered. 
She  was  carried  forward  to  a  tepee,  where  our  surgeon 
took  charge  of  her. 

As  soon  as  the  warriors  were  driven  out,  "  Romeo," 


BATTLE   OF  THE   WASHITA.  43 

wlio  spoke  the  dialect,  was  sent  by  the  commanding 
officer  to  set  the  fears  of  the  self-imprisoned  women  at 
rest,  and  they  were  then  all  gathered  in  some  of  the 
larger  lodges.  Two  of  the  squaws  had  managed  during 
the  melee  to  mount  and  reach  one  of  the  herds  of  po- 
nies, but  in  the  flight,  while  driving  the  property  off, 
California  Joe  had  captured  women,  ponies,  and  all, 
and  he  came  into  camp  swinging  his  lariat  and  wildly 
shouting. 

Before  leaving  the  battle-ground  it  was  necessary, 
if  our  troops  hoped  really  to  cripple  the  enemy  and 
prevent  further  invasion,  to  destroy  the  property,  for 
it  was  impossible  to  carry  away  much  of  what  had 
been  captured.  The  contents  of  the  village  were  col- 
lected in  heaps  and  burned.  The  ponies  were  crowded 
together  and  shot.  It  took  three  companies  an  hour 
and  a  half  to  kill  the  800  ponies.  This  last  duty  was 
something  the  officers  never  forgot.  I^othing  but  the 
exisrencies  of  war  could  have  driven  them  to  it.  There 
were  the  several  grades  of  animals  as  the  Indian  uses 
them :  tlie  ponies  for  marching,  those  for  pack-animals 
to  carry  the  luggage,  the  hunting-pony,  and  finally  the 
best,  truest,  and  swiftest,  for  battle  alone.  But  the 
value  of  the  animals  was  not  what  affected  the  officers ; 
it  was  that,  mute  and  helpless  as  they  were,  they  must 
be  sacrificed.  But  they  could  not  be  driven  away  in 
the  deep  snow,  and  with  so  small  a  command  it  was 
impossible  to  spare  men  to  even  attempt  such  a  rescue. 
Besides,  the  presence  of  such  a  herd  would  still  more 
strongly  have  tempted  the  constantly  menacing  Indians 


44  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

to  follow  and  recapture  so  much  valuable  property. 
There  was  little  time  to  deliberate,  for  one  of  the  capt- 
ured squaws  reported,  what  afterwards  proved  to  be 
true,  that  along  the  Washita,  for  twelve  miles,  were 
scattered  many  other  villages.  In  this  comparatively 
sheltered  valley  all  the  southern  tribes  had  congre- 
gated. It  was  a  hundred  miles  outside  the  reserva- 
tion, but  the  timber,  water,  and  grass  were  favorable 
for  winter  camps. 

There  was  still  one  detachment  from  which  no  news 
had  come.  Men  were  sent  out  for  two  miles  in  the 
direction  taken  by  Major  Elliott,  but  no  clew  to  his 
whereabouts  was  obtained.  Officers  and  men  felt  the 
imminent  danger  that  surrounded  them.  IN^ine  hun- 
dred men  so  far  from  a  base  of  supplies,  exhausted  from 
a  long  fast,  and  with  horses  worn  out  with  a  difficult 
march  through  the  snow,  were  in  no  condition  to  risk 
the  lives  of  the  whole  command  in  further  search  for 
their  dead  comrades.  Not  till  the  regiment  returned 
to  the  battle-ground,  a  short  time  later,  were  the  bodies 
of  the  brave  officer  and  his  men  found. 

In  order  to  escape  from  the  situation,  which  was 
most  threatening,  for  the  Indians  were  assembling  con- 
stantly on  the  bluffs  overlooking  the  command.  Gen- 
eral Custer  put  on  a  brave  front,  and  ordered  the  band 
to  play  "  Garry o wen,"  and  the  colors  to  be  unfurled ; 
the  skirmishers  were  sent  on  in  advance,  and  the  com- 
mand set  out  in  the  direction  of  the  other  villages.  I 
have  often  thought  what  nerve  it  required  to  assume 
80  bold  an  attitude  and  march  towards  an  enemy  scat- 


BATTLE   OF  THE   WASHITA.  46 

tered  for  twelve  miles  in  advance ;  the  horses  and  men 
so  exhausted,  the  ammunition  low,  and  Indians  out- 
numbering them  three  to  one.  The  Indians,  perceiv- 
ing not  only  the  determined  advance,  but  appreciating 
tliat  every  sign  of  past  victory  was  apparent,  supposed 
the  triumphant  troops  were  about  to  march  on  the  vil- 
lages below,  and  they  fled  before  the  column.  After 
dark  the  order  to  countermarch  was  given,  and  as  rap- 
idly as  possible  the  tired  troopers  rode  back  to  the  tr^in 
of  supplies  that  had  been  endeavoring  for  days  to  make 
its  way  to  the  regiment. 

In  General  Sheridan's  letter  to  General  Custer,  after 
the  battle,  he  says,  in  congratulation :  "  The  Battle  of 
the  Washita  River  is  the  most  complete  and  successful 
of  all  our  private  battles,  and  was  fought  in  such  unfav- 
orable weather  and  circumstances  as  to  reflect  the  high- 
est credit  on  yourself  and  regiment." 

The  following  extracts  are  from  General  Custer's  let- 
ters to  me : 

The  sad  side  of  the  story  is  the  killed  and  wounded.  Ma- 
jor Elliott  and  six  men,  who  charged  after  two  Indians,  and 
Captain  Hamilton,  are  gone.  I  had  Captain  Hamilton's  body 
brought  to  this  point  (Beaver  Creek,  supply  depot),  where  we 
buried  him  with  full  military  honors.  Eleven  companies  of 
cavalry  and  three  of  infantry  followed  him  to  the  grave.  The 
band  played  the  dead-march ;  his  horse  was  draped  in  mourn- 
ing, carrying  his  boots,  sword,  etc.,  and  followed  his  body. 
We  intend  to  take  the  remains  back  with  us  when  we  go  to 
Leavenworth.  Colonel  Barnitz  was  wounded  by  a  rifle-ball 
through  his  bowels.  We  all  regarded  him  as  mortally  wound- 
ed at  first,  but  he  is  almost  certain  to  recover  now.    He  acted 


46  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

very  gallantly,  killing  two  Indians  before  receiving  his  wound, 
"  Tom  "  had  a  flesh-wound  in  his  hand. 

Fort  Cobb,  Indian  Territory,  December  I9(h. 

Here  we  are,  after  twelve  days'  marching  through  snow,  mud, 
rain,  and  over  an  almost  impassable  country,  where  sometimes 
we  made  only  eight  miles  a  day.  We  have  been  following 
an  Indian  trail,  and  three  days  ago  we  overtook  the  Kiowas ; 
but  in  order  to  get  the  whole  tribe  together,  as  well  as  not  to 
frighten  the  Apaches  and  Comanches,  who  were  also  with  the 
Kiowas,  we  refrained  from  attacking,  but  permitted  Satanta 
and  Lone  Wolf,  and  many  other  chiefs  and  warriors,  to  come 
into  our  lines.  AVe  find  it  almost  impossible  to  hurry  the 
Indians  much,  they  have  so  many  powwows  and  ceremonies 
before  determining  upon  any  important  action. 

A  few  moments  ago  one  of  the  chiefs.  Kicking  Bird,  came 
in  with  the  news  that  the  entire  Kiowa  village  was  hastening 
in  to  give  themselves  up.  The  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes 
are  sick  of  war  since  the  battle  of  the  Washita.  Five  miles 
below  the  battle-ground,  in  a  deserted  Indian  village,  the  bod- 
ies of  a  young  and  beautiful  white  woman  and  her  babe  were 
found,  and  I  brought  them  away  for  burial  at  Arbuckle.  The 
woman  was  captured  by  Indians — I  think,  near  Fort  Lyon,  as 
she  was  recognized  by  several  of  our  command. 

Fort  Cobb,  January  2d. 

The  last  remaining  tribes  of  hostile  Indians  have  sent  in 
their  head  chiefs  to  beg  pity  from  us. 

Yesterday  a  grand  council  was  held  near  my  tent.  All  the 
head  chiefs  of  the  Apaches,  Kiowas,  Comanches,  Cheyennes, 
and  Arapahoes  were  assembled.  I  was  alone  with  them,  ex- 
cept one  officer,  who  took  stenographic  notes  of  the  speeches. 
A  line  of  sentinels  had  to  be  thrown  around  the  council  to 
keep  back  the  observers,  as  there  were  crowds  of  officers, 
soldiers,  and  employes  of  the   quartermaster's  department. 


^^^^^^flU^r^'  ^IL^^^H 

f^SHtoJ^^^^^H 

*''^%2I^^^^H 

i 

i^f: 

1 

^ 

1 

9^                                          -^'•'n^p 

' '  ^^^B 

v^lOBC''',Jir-ijill 

jlLJi 

there  were  letters  for  me,  and  I  was  going  to  try  for  that 
mail,  and  read  my  letters,  if  I  had  to  put  a  candle  in  my  pock- 
et and  swim  the  stream.  My  tongue  fairly  rattled  off  the 
directions.  "  Bishop,  bring  me  a  horse  ;  don't  wait  to  saddle 
him."  I  ordered  so  many  men  to  report  to  me  with  lariats, 
axes,  etc. ;  to  another  officer  I  called  out  to  gallop  up  the 
stream,  and  tell  the  scouts  to  bring  on  the  mail  until  they  shall 
see  me  on  the  bank. 

Jumping  on  Bishop's  horse  bareback,  I  forded  one  branch 
of  the  stream,  and  sought  the  most  available  point  to  cross 
the  mail  over  the  main  stream.  Some  of  the  officers  came 
down  at  first  and  looked  on,  but  it  was  too  cold,  and  they  re- 
turned to  their  tent  fires.  I  found  a  place  where  we  could 
roll  a  long  log  out  some  distance  in  the  water,  and  from  it  a 
rope  could  be  thrown  across  to  the  other  bank  and  secured 
by  the  mail-carriers.  The  men  had  to  strip  off  their  boots 
and  pantaloons,  and  work  in  the  water.  I  encouraged  them  all 
I  could,  and  had  the  doctor  send  them  whiskey,  which  Colonel 
Cook  distributed  to  them.  Tom  thought  he  could  make  his 
way  over  on  horseback,  and  tried  it ;  but  the  current  carried 
him  and  his  horse  down,  and  he  had  to  struggle  to  get  back. 
Finally  we  got  the  rope  over  and  secured  on  both  banks.  One 
of  the  men  volunteered  to  strip  off  and  make  his  way  across, 
holding  on  to  the  rope.  In  he  went,  and  soon  called  out  "All 
right"  from  the  other  shore.  Fastening  a  mail-bag  to  his 
neck,  he  jumped  in,  and  hard  pulling  against  a  roaring  tor- 
rent brought  him  across ;  strong  hands  were  waiting  to  lift  him 
and  his  precious  load  out  of  the  water.  All  this  was  after 
dark.  In  again  he  went  and  called  out,  as  before,  from  the 
other  side,  "All  right."  Seven  times  did  that  brave  man 
breast  the  current.  Cook  held  the  bottle  of  whisky  ready  for 
him  as  he  came  out  the  last  time.  "  Drink,  my  man,  I  don't 
care  if  you  are  drunk  a  week,"  was  my  greeting ;  then  putting 
him  on  a  horse,  naked  as  he  was  the  day  he  came  into  the 
world,  I  told  him  to  gallop  to  his  tent  and  wrap  up  well  in 


BATTLE   OF   THE   WASHITA.  49 

his  blankets.  As  each  mail-bag  was  landed,  Tora,  wet  and 
cold,  received  it,  galloped  to  the  adjutant's  tent,  where  it  was 
distributed  to  the  camp  as  fast  as  possible. 

Two  lodges  of  the  Cheyennes  have  come  in,  and  they  say 
that  the  Arapahoes  and  Cheyennes,  whose  villages  were  a 
hundred  miles  distant  when  our  council  took  place  the  other 
day,  are  all  moving,  but  owing  to  the  bad  roads  and  high 
water  they  travel  slowly.  I  am  as  impatient  as  a  crazed  ani- 
mal to  have  them  come  in,  so  that  I  can  start  on  my  home- 
ward journey  rejoicing. 

Tell  Eliza  I  have  just  the  thing  for  her.  One  of  the  squaws 
among  the  prisoners  had  a  little  pappoose  a  few  nights  since, 
and  I  intend  to  bring  it  home  to  add  to  the  orphan  asylum 
she  always  keeps. 

The  baby  referred  to  was  the  child  of  an  Indian  prin- 
cess described  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  Owing  to  its 
lineage,  the  new-comer  was  treated  with  every  attention 
by  the  prisoners,  but  it  was  not  so  with  a  poor  little 
infant  who  was  not  the  descendant  of  royalty.  The 
mother  of  the  little  "  forlornity  "  was  killed  while  fight- 
ing in  the  Washita  battle,  and  the  captive  women  were 
given  charge  of  the  baby.  They  took  advantage  of 
every  opportunity  to  drop  it  in  the  snow  on  the  march, 
and  our  officers  had  to  watch  vigilantly  to  see  that  the 
squaws  did  not  accomplish  theii*  purpose  of  leaving  it 
to  perish  on  the  way. 

In  Camp,  Medicine  Bluff  Creek,  11.30  vm.^  February  8, '69. 
It  has  been  several  days  since  I  wrote  to  you.    I  have  made 
a  long  march  since.     I  asked  the  adjutant  to  write  you  dur- 
ing my  absence.     I  did  not  tell  you  of  my  intentions,  fearing 
that  you  might  be  anxious;  but  I  am  now  back  safe  and  well. 
4 


50  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

We  have  been  to  try  and  bring  in  the  Indian  villages,  and 
have  had  what  some  people  would  term  a  rough  time ;  were 
gone  sixteen  days,  without  wagons  or  tents.  Our  provisions 
became  exhausted,  there  was  no  game,  and  officers  and  men 
subsisted  on  parched  corn  and  horse-flesh,  the  latter  not  even 
possessing  the  merit  of  having  been  regularly  butchered,  but 
died  from  exhaustion.  Scarcely  a  morsel  of  it  was  left  un- 
eaten. You  could  hardly  have  helped  being  amused,  even 
though  it  was  so  serious,  to  have  seen  the  officers  sitting 
around  the  camp-fire  toasting  strips  of  horse-flesh  on  forked 
sticks,  and  then  eating  it  without  salt  or  pepper.  I  had  buffa- 
lo robes  for  my  bed,  slept  soundly  and  comfortably  on  the 
ground,  with  no  shelter  except  the  large  rubber  blanket  spread 
over  me  from  head  to  foot,  and  the  rain  pouring  down.  One 
night  my  pack-mule  did  not  reach  camp,  and  my  robes  and 
overcoat  were  all  with  it.  I  had  to  sleep  all  night  without 
either,  but  I  enjoyed  it  all,  and  often  thought  of  the  song : 

"The  bold  dragoon  lie  lias  no  care 
As  he  rides  along  with  his  uncombed  hair." 

I  write  briefly,  as  it  is  late,  and  one  of  the  officers  going  to 
Leavenworth  to-morrow  will  tell  you  all  the  news. 

The  Cheyennes  have  delayed  their  coming  in  so  long  that 
I  cannot  get  home  and  take  our  leave  of  absence  as  we  hoped. 

In  returning  here  from  our  late  march.  General  Sheridan 
was  anxious  to  hear  the  result  of  our  trip  as  soon  as  possible. 
I  took  half  a  dozen  men,  and,  mounted  on  a  good  mule,  I  rode 
eighty  miles  in  sixteen  hours,  through  mountains,  and  guided 
alone  by  the  compass,  taking  the  general  and  every  one  else 
by  surprise  by  my  sudden  arrival  in  camp. 


jfuneral  /Iftarcb* 


gHa^ig^^gi 


CHAPTER  V. 


INDIAN  TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES. 


Medicine  Bluff  Creek,  I.  T.,  Fehmary  11,  1868. 
Yesterday  we  made  peace  with  the  Kiowas,  and  released 
their  two  head  chiefs,  Satanta  and  Lone  Wolf.  We  are  now 
waiting  the  arrival  of  the  train  with  supplies  from  Arbuckle, 
when  we  will  at  once  bid  a  final  adieu  to  this  part  of  the 
country,  and  set  out  in  a  westerly  direction,  intending  to 
treat  with  the  Cheyennes  at  some  point  west  of  here,  then 
turn  our  faces  northward  to  Camp  Supply. 

Medicine  Bluff  Creek,  Fehruat'y  20<A. 

It  is  a  bright  and  pleasant  morning,  such  as  we  often  had 
in  Texas.  The  climate  here  is  lovely,  seldom  a  day  that 
even  a  light  coat  is  uncomfortable.  We  have  mistletoe  here 
as  plentifully  as  in  Texas.  The  scenery  is  sublime — pictu- 
resque in  the  extreme ;  the  climate  all  that  can  be  desired — 
not  surpassed,  I  imagine,  by  Italy ;  and  such  lovely  sunsets  ! 
...  I  wish  you  could  see  with  what  awe  I  am  held  by  the 
Indians.  A  sound  drubbing,  you  know,  always  produces 
this.  They  have  given  me  a  name,  Mon-to-e-te,  which  means 
Strong  Arm. 

I  cannot  write  but  a  few  lines  this  evening,  as  I  am  now 
using  the  last  piece  of  candle  Avhich  can  be  obtained  any- 


52  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

where  in  camp.  So  bountifully  are  we  supplied  with  Gov> 
ernment  stores  that  not  an  officer  here,  from  General  Sheri- 
dan down,  has  any  light;  nor  have  they  had  for  several 
nights,  nor  will  we  have  until  the  arrival  of  the  train  of 
supplies.  How  we  shall  spend  the  long  evenings  I  do  not 
know — sleep,  I  presume. 

As  soon  as  the  train  of  supplies  arrives,  I  expect  to  move 
west  about  one  hundred  miles,  through  the  Washita  mount- 
ains, to  see  if  the  Cheyennes  are  in  that  vicinity ;  then  I  turn 
northward  to  Camp  Supply.  Tell  Eliza  I  am  tired  of  living 
on  roast  horse  and  parched  corn,  as  we  have  had  to,  and  I 
will  soon  be  at  home,  and  want  soup  every  day. 

General  Sheridan  hastens  to  Camp  Supply,  and  will  start 
with  a  train  of  supplies  to  meet  me  somewhere  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  Washita  battle  -  field.  You  see  I  am  telling  you 
our  plans,  when  not  a  single  officer  of  this  command  dreams 
of  our  destination,  and  all  are  wondering  when  we  are  going. 
I  am  telling  you  just  as  if  I  were  with  you.  Look  on  the 
map  and  find  a  point  on  Cache  Creek  about  one  hundred 
miles  due  west  from  Fort  Arbuckle.  That  is  where  we 
now  are.  When  we  move  it  will  be  nearly  due  south-west, 
following  the  Red  River.  There  we  expect  to  accomplish  the 
object  of  our  western  detour,  and  will  then  be  nearly  on  a 
line  due  south  from  Fort  Dodge.  I  am  thus  minute  in  order 
that  you  may  see  what  a  vast  extent  of  country  we  will  have 
visited  since  the  beginning  of  my  experience  on  the  plains. 

Once  back  to  Camp  Supply,  nothing  further  can  be  ac- 
complished for  some  time ;  our  horses  will  be  worn  out, 
many  of  them  now  being  unable  to  proceed  that  far. 

The  horses  are  being  fed  on  grass  alone,  running  loose 
night  and  day.  They  come  in  at  the  sound  of  water-call  as 
regularly  and  promptly  as  if  led.  The  men  are  living  on 
half  rations  of  bread. 

No  officers'  stores  for  the  coming  march.  I  intend  to 
have  driven  along  with  us  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of 


INDIAN  TEAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES.  53 

Texas  cattle,  so  that  we  will  not  be  compelled  to  eat  horse- 
meat  again.  You  know  how  Texas  cattle  can  travel,  equal  to 
any  horse.  I  also  have  plenty  of  salt,  so  my  command  will 
not  suffer. 

General  Sheridan  has  been  in  on  my  bed  talking  over  our 
plans.  He  said  again,  for  the  fiftieth  time,  that  I  could  go 
east  at  the  earliest  possible  moment;  but  I  tell  him,  as  I  al- 
ways have,  that  I  would  not  go  till  the  work  was  all  done. 

Last  night,  a  few  moments  after  I  had  laid  away  my  un- 
finished letter  and  writing  materials,  and  was  sitting  alone 
in  my  Sibley  tent,  I  heard  the  clatter  of  several  feet  coming, 
as  if  horsemen  were  approaching.  It  was  bright  moonlight, 
and  I  stood  peering  out  of  a  small  opening  in  the  tqnt  try- 
ing to  divine  who  it  could  be  entering  camp  at  that  hour  of 
the  night. 

Three  muffled  figures,  human  in  shape,  mounted  upon 
mules  and  leading  two  pack-mules,  rode  up  to  my  tent  and 
dismounted.  I  could  not  recognize  them,  but  said,  "  Come 
in,  who  is  it  ?'*  "  Why,  general,  we  have  the  mail,"  was  the 
reply.     "  Hurrah !  is  that  you.  Jack  ?" 

(Jack  Corbin,  one  of  my  most  reliable  scouts,  whom  I  sent 
to  Camp  Supply  a  month  ago.) 

If  they  had  been  my  brothers  I  could  not  have  greeted 
them  more  warmly.  Shaking  hands  all  around  and  asking 
them  to  sit  down  by  my  sheet-iron  stove  and  warm  (we  are 
having  a  terrible  norther),  I  called  the  adjutant  to  distribute 
the  mail  they  brought.  Why  was  I  so  glad  to  see  these 
daring  men? — not  purely  for  themselves,  though  they  are 
good,  very  good  men,  but  a  bird  whispered  in  my  ear  that 
there  were  letters  for  me.  I  could  have  hugged  them  when 
I  thought  that  they  had  braved  the  perils  of  two  hundred 
miles,  through  the  Indian  country,  in  order  to  bring  to  us, 
'way  out  here,  news  from  our  loved  ones. 

I  was  right  in  thinking  I  had  letters  in  the  bag.  There 
were  eight     The  last  was  dated  the  1 2th  of  February,  and  I 


54  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

received  it  in  ten  days  from  date.  Is  that  not  remarkable 
time  for  courier  mail  ?  It  has  made  the  quickest  time  that 
any  document,  official  or  private,  has  reached  this  command. 
Nothing  seems  to  be  a  sufficient  obstacle  to  prevent  our 
letters  coming.  It  often  happens  that  General  Sheridan 
desires  to  send  off  couriers  post-haste  with  important  de- 
spatches and  cannot  burden  him  with  mail  matter,  so  no  one 
is  informed  of  his  going ;  but  he  never  fails  to  quietly  notify 
me,  so  that  I  can  get  a  letter  to  you  by  every  opportunity. 


Medicine  Bluff  Creek,  March  1, 1869. 

This  is  the  last  day  of  our  sojourn  here.  In  fact,  it  was 
to  have  been  the  day  of  our  departure,  but  the  Quartermas- 
ter and  Commissary  departments  have  disappointed  us,  and  I 
am  forced  to  wait  another  day  for  supplies.  My  command 
has  been  living  on  quarter  rations  of  bread  for  ten  days. 
General  Sheridan  has  been  worried  almost  to  distraction  by 
this  cause.  He  went  away  with  the  impression,  from  what 
he  heard,  that  we  were  going  to  have  a  large  and  heavily 
loaded  train.  I  have  received  advance  lists  of  all  they  con- 
tain, and  I  can  barely  get  ten  days*  rations  of  bread  for  my 
command,  and  about  fifteen  rations  of  other  articles. 

The  troops  remaining  here  have  scarcely  any  commissary 
stores,  but  they  cannot  starve,  though  compelled  to  live  on 
beef  alone :  but  even  then  they  will  have  no  salt.  I  wish 
some  of  those  who  are  responsible  for  this  state  of  affairs, 
and  who  are  living  in  luxury  and  comfort,  could  be  made  to 
share  at  least  the  discomforts  and  privations  of  troops  serv- 
ing in  the  field. 

I  am  going  to  march  over  a  portion  of  the  country  to 
which  every  one  is  a  stranger,  and  the  distance  unknown. 
I  wrote  you,  however,  our  proposed  movements.  I  shall  be 
glad  to  get  on  the  move  again.  I  have  remained  in  camp 
until  I  am  tired  of  it.     I  seldom  care  to  stay  in  one  camp 


INDIAN   TKAIL8,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES.  55 

over  two  or  three  days.  I  am  almost  as  nomadic  in  my  pro- 
clivities as  the  Indians  themselves. 

I  send  you  a  likeness  which  it  may  not  occur  to  you  is 
the  picture  of  your  husband.  How  do  you  hke  the  beard  ? 
The  costume  is  a  very  fine  one,  made  of  dressed  buckskin 
and  fringed.  The  cap  is  the  one  without  a  visor,  that  I 
have  worn  all  winter.  Frank,  the  tailor,  is  the  maker  of  the 
suit.*  One  of  the  officers  said  that  he  thought  you  would 
not  recognize  it,  but  would  think  that  it  was  the  man  from 
California,  the  great  hunter,  who  gave  the  President  the 
bear-skin  chair. 

You  would  not  imagine  that  I  was  writing  amid  frequent 
interruptions.  The  officers  are  constantly  coming  in  inquir- 
ing about  preparations  for  the  march.  Several  Indian  chiefs 
have  been  in  to  "talk" — to  them  I  talk,  and  continue  my 
writing  at  the  same  time,  an  interpreter  being  present.  I 
send  you  a  likeness  of  four  of  my  scouts.  The  one  on  the 
right  is  "  California  Joe,"  mentioned  in  General  Sheridan's 
and  my  despatches.  He  is  the  odd  genius,  so  full  of  origi- 
nality, and  constantly  giving  utterance  to  quaint  remarks. 
He  has  been  everywhere  west  of  the  Mississippi,  clear  to  the 
Pacific  coast.     He  has  not  seen  any  of  his  relations  for  fif- 

*  The  morning  that  this  letter  came,  enclosing  the  little  tintype 
of  General  Custer  with  a  full  beard  and  a  buckskin  costume,  1  had 
a  visit  from  the  tailor's  wife,  to  whom  I  have  referred  in  Boots 
and  Saddles  as  old  "Trouble  agin,"  because  it  was  the  preface  to 
all  her  speeches  to  me.  She  entered  with  an  open  letter  and  a 
tintype  of  the  soldier  husband  whom  after  every  beating  she  loved 
more  fondly. 

He  was  dressed  precisely  as  the  general  was,  as  I  discovered 
from  the  picture  that  came  in  my  letter  later  in  the  day.  This 
mystified  me  for  a  time,  but  I  found,  after  General  Custer's  return, 
that  Frank,  not  explaining  the  exact  reason,  had  borrowed  the 
buckskin  suit,  hurried  to  have  himself  tintyped  as  the  Great  North 
American  Scout,  and  sent  off  his  letter  to  show  Mrs.  Frank  what 
a  smart  soldier  she  had  for  a  spouse. 


56  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

teen  years,  and  when  asked  the  other  day  why  he  never  vis- 
ited home,  replied,  "  Oh,  to  tell  the  truth,  gineral,  our  family 
never  was  very  peart  for  caring  much  about  each  other." 

The  third  scout  in  the  group  is  my  interpreter,  a  young 
Mexican.  Do  you  notice  his  long  matted  hair?  Barnum 
would  make  a  fortune  if  he  had  him.  His  hair  never  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  comb,  and  his  face  is  almost  equally 
unacquainted  with  water.  Yet  he  is  a  very  good  and  de- 
serving person,  in  his  way.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  sport 
with  him.  I  threaten  to  put  kerosene  oil  on  his  hair  and 
set  it  on  fire.  He  speaks  several  of  the  Indian  languages, 
and  is  very-useful.  The  fourth  in  the  group  is  Jack  Cor- 
bin,  one  of  my  most  reliable  scouts  and  couriers.  He  has 
made  frequent  trips  to  Camp  Supply  and  back  with  the  mail. 

Washita  Battle-ground,  March  24, 1869. 

We  arrived  here  yesterday,  having  marched  three  hundred 
and  fourteen  miles.  I  will  rest  two  days  and  then  start  with 
my  entire  command  for  Camp  Supply. 

I  have  been  successful  in  ray  campaign  against  the  Chey- 
ennes.  I  outmarched  them,  outwitted  them  at  their  own 
game,  proved  to  them  they  were  in  my  power,  and  could  and 
would  have  annihilated  the  entire  village  of  over  two  hun- 
dred lodges  but  for  two  reasons.  1st.  I  desired  to  obtain 
the  release  of  the  two  white  women  held  captive  by  them, 
which  I  could  not  have  done  had  I  attacked.  2d.  If  I  had 
attacked  them,  those  who  escaped,  and  absent  portions  of 
the  tribe  also,  would  have  been  on  the  war-path  all  summer, 
and  we  would  have  obtained  no  rest.  These  reasons  alone 
influenced  me  to  pursue  the  course  I  have,  and  now,  when  I 
can  review  the  whole  matter  coolly,  my  better  judgment 
and  my  humanity  tell  me  I  have  acted  wisely.  You  cannot 
appreciate  how  delicately  I  was  situated.  I  counselled  with 
no  one,  but  when  we  overtook  the  Cheyenne  village,  and 
saw  it  in  our  power  to  annihilate  thera,  my  command,  from 


INDIAN   TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  JlHTD   CAPTIVES.  57 

highest  to  lowest,  desired  bloodshed.  They  were  eager  for 
revenge,  and  could  not  comprehend  ray  conduct.  They  dis- 
approved and  criticised  it.  I  paid  no  heed,  but  followed  the 
dictates  of  my  own  judgment  —  the  judgment  upon  which 
my  beloved  commander  (General  Sheridan)  said  he  relied  for 
the  attainment  of  the  best  results.  He  had  authorized  me 
to  do  as  I  pleased,  fight  or  not.  And  now  my  most  bitter 
enemies  cannot  say  that  I  am  either  blood-thirsty  or  possess- 
ed of  an  unworthy  ambition. 

Had  I  given  the  signal  to  attack,  oflScers  and  men  would 
have  hailed  it  with  a  shout  of  gratification.  I  braved  their 
opinion,  and  acted  in  opposition  to  their  wishes,  but  to-day 
not  one  but  says  I  was  right,  and  any  other  course  would 
have  been  disastrous.  Many  have  come  to  me  and  confess- 
ed their  error.  The  two  women  are  bright,  cultivated,  and 
good-looking. 

I  now  have  the  Cheyenne  chiefs  prisoners,  and  intend  to 
hold  them  as  such  until  their  tribe  comes  in.  I.  think  we 
have  rendered  them  sick  and  tired  of  war.  We  are  delight- 
ed to  find  a  large  mail  here.  The  paymaster  is  at  Camp 
Supply  waiting  to  pay  the  troops.  One-half  the  command 
is  dismounted,  and  what  few  horses  we  have  could  not  go 
out  asrain  for  two  months. 


General  Custer  refers  in  the  letters  written  to  me, 
from  which  quotations  have  just  been  made,  to  the  res- 
cue of  the  two  white  women.  It  was  brought  about 
after  unending  parleyings,  delays,  and  excuses  on  the 
part  of  the  Indians,  by  threatening  to  hang  the  three 
chiefs.  Big  Head,  Fat  Bear,  and  Dull  Knife,  who  had 
been  captured  by  ourj)eople  with  a  view  to  holding 
them  until  all  the  white  captives  then  with  the  hostiles 
were  released.     Indian  messengers  were  sent  to  the 


58  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

tribe  to  report  tlie  danger  to  their  chiefs,  and  finally, 
after  long  and  weary  watching  of  the  hills  over  which 
the  detachment  from  the  village  must  come,  a  group 
of  horsemen  appeared.  While  they  traversed  several 
miles  that  separated  them  from  our  troops,  the  whole 
command  watched  with  breathless  interest.  The  young 
brother  of  a  captured  woman  had  been  with  the  com- 
mand all  winter,  and  moving  daily  among  our  men,  had 
kept  their  sympathies  alive  to  the  atrocity  that  had 
been  perpetrated.  All  the  troopers  were  watching  this 
half -grown  man,  suddenly  matured  by  anxiety  and 
trouble,  as  he  kept  his  eyes  on  the  approaching  Ind- 
ians. The  hearts  of  the  soldiers  beat  faster  and  faster 
as  the  lad  grew  paler  and  more  anxious.  "  The  bravest 
are  the  tenderest,"  and  that  day  proved  it,  for  our 
rough  men  had  scarcely  any  thought  but  for  the  suf- 
fering youth  among  them.  Finally  the  Indians  came 
near  enough  for  an  officer  to  perceive  with  his  glass 
that  there  were  two  on  one  pony.  A  little  nearer  and 
they  reported  that  they  were  women.  The  poor  boy 
had  no  reason  to  be  sure  that  one  of  them  was  his  sis- 
ter. To  the  Indian  his  captive  is  nameless.  The  chiefs 
had  confessed  that  they  had  two  white  squaws,  but  by 
no  means  in  their  power  could  our  people  ascertain 
who  they  were.  Finally  the  two  figures  descended 
from  the  pony,  left  the  Indians,  who  were  at  a  halt, 
and  began  to  walk  towards  the  waiting  troops. 

General  Custer,  by  the  aid  of  his  powerful  field-glass, 
told  young  Brewster  that  one  of  the  figures  coming 
was  short  and  stout,  the  other  taller.     As  soon  as  any 


INDIAN   TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES.  59 

observation  was  made  by  General  Custer  regarding 
what  his  glass  revealed,  one  listening  soldier  told  it  to 
another,  and  a  tremor  of  excitement  spread  from  one 
end  of  the  long  watching  line  to  the  other.  As  Brew- 
ster looked  through  the  glass  lent  to  him  and  saw  the 
women,  he  began  to  believe  that  one  of  them  was  his 
sister,  as  she  was  of  about  her  height,  and  he  implored 
General  Custer  for  permission  to  go  to  her.  It  was 
hard  to  refuse,  but  he  was  obliged  to  do  so,  fearing 
the  boy's  horror  at  the  change  in  her  would  make  him 
forget  the  necessity  for  caution,  and  attempt  revenge 
before  the  prisoners  had  really  reached  our  lines. 

The  regiment  of  Kansas  Volunteers  had  been  or- 
ganized to  revenge  some  of  the  outrages  to  the  border 
people,  and  with  the  hope  of  rescuing  white  prisoners, 
so  General  Custer  gave  them  the  privilege  of  first  greet- 
ing their  two  States  women.  Three  ranking  oflScers 
went  forward  to  meet  the  poor  creatures,  who,  even 
then,  except  for  their  white  skin,  could  hardly  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Indians,  so  strange  was  their  dress. 
Hardly  had  the  officers  advanced  a  quarter  of  the  way 
when  the  waiting  lad  darted  from  his  place  beside  Gen- 
eral Custer,  and  sped  on  before  every  one  until  he  had 
reached  the  women.  As  he  clasped  the  taller  of  the 
two  in  his  arms  the  soldiers  knew  that  the  sister  for 
whom  he  had  suffered  so  much  was  restored  to  him. 
The  officers,  in  telling  this  story  to  us  afterwards,  al- 
ways hurried  over  this  part ;  they  could  not  speak 
calmly. 

They  all  crowded  round  the  poor  girls,  eager   to 


60  FOLLOWING   THE   GUmON. 

shake  their  hands  and  welcome  them ;  but  the  most 
daring,  the  most  valiant  among  them,  did  not  at- 
tempt to  conceal  the  tears  that  rolled  down  their 
cheeks.  Men  who  had  laid  the  fair  flower  of  chivalry, 
the  loved  comrade.  Captain  Hamilton,  in  the  ground 
only  so  recently  with  tearless  silence,  now  wept  over 
the  two  captives.  The  longer  they  looked  upon 
the  poor  creatures  the  harder  it  became  to  control 
their  emotions.  The  young  faces  of  the  two,  who 
not  a  year  before  were  bright,  happy  women,  were 
now  worn  with  privation  and  exposure,  and  haggard 
with  the  terrible  insults  of  their  captors,  too  dread- 
ful to  be  chronicled  here.  The  rudely  cut  and 
scanty  garment  that  barely  covered  them  was  made 
from  flour  sacks  bearing  the  brand  that  our  govern- 
ment purchases,  thus  proving  that  the  Indians  who 
captured  them  had  been  drawing  rations  from  the 
United  States  Indian  agency  at  the  time.  They  had 
Indian  leggings  and  moccasins,  their  braided  hair  and 
arms  encircled  with  spiral  wire,  their  fingers  covered 
with  brass  rings,  their  necks  with  beads,  were  evi- 
dences that  the  Indians,  by  thus  adorning  their  prison- 
ers, hoped  to  mollify  the  wrath  of  the  white  man. 
Fortunately,  the  one  woman  on  the  expedition,  who 
was  General  Custer's  cook,  and  from  whose  temper, 
as  I  have  elsewhere  related,  her  soldier  husband  so 
often  suffered,  now  forgot  the  rages  and  furies  of  her 
daily  life,  and  gave  the  poor  released  creatures  some 
of  her  clothing,  clad  in  which  they  left  in  charge  of 
the  now  happy  brother  for  their  homes  when  the  first 


INDIAN  TBAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES.  61 

wagon-train  coining  with  supplies  went  back  to  Camp 
Supply. 

The  story  of  their  life  among  tlie  Indians  was  one  of 
barbarous  treatment  and  brutality ;  one  had  no  knowl- 
edge that  the  other  was  a  prisoner,  as  they  had  been 
captured  separately,  until  they  met  in  an  Indian  vil- 
lage, and  after  being  traded  about  from  one  chief  to 
another,  they  at  last  came  to  be  owned  by  the  same 
warrior.  Wliile  together,  they  planned  an  escape. 
They  did  not  know  where  they  were,  but  stole  out  at 
night,  and,  guided  by  the  stars,  started  north.  With 
great  joy  they  at  last  reached  a  wagon-road  lately  trav- 
elled. In  the  midst  of  this  delight  a  bullet  whistled 
by  them,  and  soon  they  saw  their  owner  in  hot  pur- 
suit. New  insults  were  inflicted,  and  more  laborious 
work  was  loaded  on  the  two  after  their  return  to  the 
village.  The  conduct  of  the  squaws,  always  jealous  of 
white  women,  was  brutality  itself.  The  chief  finally 
sold  the  two  apart.  With  the  terrible  physical  labor 
required  of  them,  in  addition  to  revolting  indignities, 
it  was  a  wonder  they  lived.  They  were  almost  starved, 
some  days  only  being  allowed  a  morsel  of  mule-meat, 
not  over  an  inch  square  at  most,  for  an  entire  day. 
The  squaws  beat  them  with  clubs  when  the  Indians 
were  absent,  and  once  one  of  them  was  felled  to  the 
ground  by  a  blow  from  these  same  jealous  fiends. 

After  all  this  dreadful  life,  it  would  seem  as  if  the 
two  women  might  have  looked  for  immunity  from 
future  trouble,  but  in  one  instance  it  was  not  to  be. 
Two  years  after  their  rescue,  two  of  our  officers  were 


62  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

riding  past  a  ranch  and  saw  a  little  Indian  boy  play- 
ing before  the  house.  Seeing  him,  they  were  too  much 
interested  not  to  inquire  who  lived  there,  and  found, 
when  the  woman  of  the  house  came  to  the  door,  that 
it  was  one  of  the  captives,  whose  face,  owing  to  the 
tragic  circumstances  of  the  release,  was  fixed  indelibly 
on  their  memory.  It  was  impossible  for  her  to  resist 
detaining  them  a  few  moments,  recalling  again  her 
gratitude  to  the  troops  for  her  rescue.  When  they 
asked  if  all  went  well  with  her,  she  could  not  help 
confiding  to  them  the  fact  that  the  husband  whom  she 
had  married  after  her  return,  instead  of  trying  to  make 
her  forget  the  misery  through  which  she  had  passed, 
often  recalled  all  her  year  of  captivity  with  bitterness, 
and  was  disposed  to  upbraid  her,  as  if  she  had  been 
in  the  least  responsible  for  the  smallest  of  her  mis- 
fortunes. 

In  the  many  letters  which  I  have  looked  over  to 
obtain  my  few  notes  of  a  winter  that  was  so  eventful, 
I  have  found  only  occasional  allusions  to  the  hardships 
undergone;  but,  little  by  little,  references  were  made 
after  the  return  of  the  command  that  gave  some  idea 
of  the  self-denial  and  self-control  which  every  one  had 
to  exercise.  If  afterwards  any  one  exhibited  the  slight- 
est sign  of  obstinacy,  some  teasing  voice  was  sure  to 
pipe  up  and  say,  "  What  can  you  expect  of  a  man  who 
has  dined  on  mule-steaks  ?"  General  Custer  could  not 
eat  mule  or  horse  when  they  were  all  reduced  to  that 
desperate  strait,  but  in  his  hunger  he  told  me  he  used 
to  think  that  he  might,  to  save  himself  from  starva- 


INDIAN   TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND    CAPTIVES.  63 

tion,  make  up  his  mind  to  eat  his  dogs'  ears ;  and  as 
they  trotted  along  in  front  of  him,  quite  happy  over 
their  mule  breakfast,  he  looked  longingly  at  these  de- 
voted friends,  but  with  a  hope  that  he  might  be  spared 
the  necessity  of  mutilating  them. 

The  soldiers  bartered  for  everything.  One  came  to 
General  Custer  to  beg  to  trade  some  tobacco  for  a  loaf 
of  bread.  He  received  the  half  of  the  last  loaf,  but  the 
tobacco  was  declined,  as  it  was  not  the  habit  of  Gener- 
al Custer  to  use  it.  That  night  the  remaining  half  of 
the  loaf  was  stolen.  A  little  sack  of  oats  was  carefully 
treasured  in  General  Caster's  tent  for  his  favorite  horse, 
and  the  hungry  animals  left  loose  to  pick  what  grass 
they  could  under  the  edges  of  the  snow,  came  at  night 
sniffing  and  snorting  around  the  oats  in  hungry  search. 
The  horses  grew  so  expert  in  foraging  for  themselves 
that  they  learned  to  put  one  hoof  on  a  fallen  sapling 
and  tear  off  the  bark  with  their  teeth,  as  a  dog  holds 
and  picks  a  bone. 

It  was  on  that  campaign  that  I  first  heard  of  a  sack 
made  of  a  buffalo-skin  to  sleep  in,  and  not  even  then 
should  I  have  learned  that  such  an  invention  was 
known,  had  not  the  handsome  Adonis  who  used  this 
clever  device  been  unmercifully  teased  for  indulging  in 
so  much  luxury. 

Indeed,  it  was  mostly  owing  to  the  tormenting  spirit 
of  raillery,  that  is  the  characteristic  of  officer  and  sol- 
dier, that  many  of  the  hardships  endured  came  to 
my  knowledge  at  all.  When  the  attention  of  a  group 
\vas  called  to  some  comical  situation,  reminding  the 


64  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

bystanders  of  some  desperate  plight,  either  of  danger  or 
deprivation,  in  which  an  officer  had  been  placed,  I  had 
an  insight  into  what  had  been  endured  by  them  all. 

I  suppose  that  I  never  should  have  heard  of  several 
incidents  of  the  winter,  had  it  not  been  that  the  Kansas 
Volunteers  afforded  some  amusement  to  our  men,  from 
the  fact  that  they,  though  brave  men,  were  inexperi- 
enced campaigners,  and  their  complaints  did  not  escape 
our  men,  who  considered  themselves  scarred  veterans 
in  comparison.  For  years,  if  any  one  said,  talking  of  a 
hoped-for  leave  of  absence,  or  describing  some  one  who 
was  lonely,  "  I  can  see  home  just  as  plain,"  I  knew  that 
it  referred  to  a  volunteer  who  was  heard  by  some  of 
our  men  crying  with  homesickness,  and  confiding  his 
woes  to  his  "  bunkey."  At  heart  our  men  were  sorry 
for  them,  as  there  were  some  pitiful  instances  of  nos- 
talgia among  them ;  but  when  they  whined  like  chil- 
dren they  were  apt  to  encounter  ridicule. 

At  the  time  when  the  supplies  were  getting  low  and 
half-rations  were  issued,  and  still  the  expedition  pur- 
sued a  fresh  trail,  instead  of  returning  to  the  wagon 
train,  the  commanding  officer  ordered  the  band  to  play 
the  regimental  tunes,  "  Garryowen,"  "  The  Girl  I  left 
behind  Me,"  etc.,  after  camp  was  reached,  in  the  hope 
of  raising  the  spirits  of  the  men.  Evidently  the  soul 
of  the  Kansas  Yolunteers  was  not  attuned  to  music 
when  assailed  by  the  pangs  of  hunger,  for  they  were 
overheard  to  grumble  and  complain  that  "  Custer  fed 
them  on  one  hardtack  a  day  and  the  '  Arkansaw  Trav- 
eller.' " 


INDIAN   TRAILS,  COUNCILS,  AND   CAPTIVES.  65 

The  story  of  the  military  part  of  the  rest  of  the  win- 
ter, unmarked  by  any  battle,  but  full  of  parleyings, 
ruses,  subterfuges,  councils,  and  promises  of  peace  on 
the  part  of  the  Indians,  who  eventfully  did  come  to 
terms,  has  been  much  better  told  by  another  pen  than 
mine.  I  needed  only  to  outline  the  battle  of  the  Wash- 
ita, that  I  might  introduce  the  prisoners  who  formed 
such  a  feature  of  our  life  during  the  following  summer 
at  Fort  Hays,  and  explain  how  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
regiment  was  able  to  have  a  permanent  camp  instead 
of  being  all  off  on  a  campaign  at  once. 
5 


38oot0  ant)  Sa^Dles. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CEEEK. 

Early  in  the  spring  the  Seventh  Cavalry  found 
themselves  again  in  Kansas,  and  with  the  cheering  pros- 
pect of  some  degree  of  quiet.  The  same  Big  Creek  on 
which  they  had  been  located  two  summers  before  was 
chosen  for  a  camp ;  access  was  had  to  the  regimental 
baggage,  which  had  been  stored,  and  every  one  pre- 
pared to  make  himself  comfortable.  Some  of  the  offi- 
cers took  leave  of  absence,  and  after  the  year's  separa- 
tion from  their  families  the  rejoicing  was  great.  Two 
of  our  number  brought  their  wives  back  to  camp. 
Others  were  deprived  of  that  pleasure,  because  their 
wives  could  not  endure  the  hardships,  or  their  children 
were  too  young  to  bear  the  exposure.  There  was  great 
exchanging  of  confidences  concerning  the  experiences 
of  the  officers  on  their  leaves,  and  much  unreserved 
narrating  of  domestic  scenes ;  for,  full  of  railing  as  every 
one  was,  a  man's  family  life  was  sacred,  and  he  felt  that 
he  could  speak  of  it  freely ;  so  it  was  indeed  as  if  we 
were  one  family.  Those  who  went  home  amused  us,  on 
their  return,  by  their  stories  of  how  they  had  surprised 
the  home  people — stealing  in  at  the  backdoor,  catch- 
ing up  their  wives  and  swinging  them  in  air,  while  the 
frightened  servants,  hearing  the  screams,  ran  from  the 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CREEK-  67 

kitchen  with  hands  covered  with  flour,  and  the  coach- 
man from  the  stable,  still  holding  his  currj-comb,  all  of 
them  ready  to  defend  their  lady  against  the  imagined 
burglar  or  assassin.  One  of  our  number  reached  home 
in  the  evening  while  his  littfe  son  was  sleeping.  He 
was  awakened  in  the  morning  by  the  vigorous  applica- 
tion of  a  pair  of  little  fists  on  Iiis  face,  and  an  angry 
demand  from  the  little  fellow,  accompanied  by  some 
terrible  language  that  the  youngster  had  learned  at 
the  cavalry  stables,  to  "get  out  of  his  mother's  bed." 
He  had,  in  the  year  that  had  elapsed,  entirely  for- 
gotten how  his  father  looked,  and  not  knowing  he 
was  coming,  he  did  not  suspect  the  identity  of  the  in- 
truder. 

Those  officers  who  had  no  families  were  busy  over 
piles  of  love-letters  awaiting  them  from  the  East,  and 
sought  in  vain  places  where  they  might  read  in  peace, 
for  those  who  were  not  so  fortunat'e  as  to  have  a  sweet- 
heart rallied  the  lucky  ones,  and  interfered  as  much  as 
possible  with  the  envied  enjoyment.  Still,  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  a  soldier  is  usually  a  lover.  The  old 
saw,  "Love  rules  the  camp,  the  court,  the  grove,"  is 
one  that  fits  all  nations  and  all  eras.  Officers  are  pret- 
ty fearless  about  their  devotion ;  if  not  avowing  it 
openly,  still  wearing  all  sorts  of  love-pledges — chains 
and  lockets  which  with  the  open-throated  shirt  in  a 
campaign  are  easily  seen,  or  keepsakes  on  the  watch- 
chain  :  perhaps  a  curious  ring  which  could  not  be  mis- 
taken for  a  man's  under  any  circumstances,  or  other 
such  things.     I  have  even  seen  a  bangle  made  large 


68  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

enougli  to  encircle  the  arm,  and  locked  on,  of  course, 
by  fair  hands.  A  Catholic  oflScer  often  wore  an  Ag- 
ntcs  Dei,  and  I  believe  that  many  a  man  would  have 
disfigured  himself  with  an  ear-ring  if  the  girl  he  left 
behind  him  had  asked  to  pierce  his  ear  for  that  pur- 
pose. They  did  not  hesitate  to  carry  their  sweet- 
hearts' pictures  in  their  inner  pockets,  and  around  the 
camp-fire  take  them  out  and  look  at  the  loved  faces 
by  the  firelight  the  last  thing  before  sleeping.  Imag- 
ine, then,  with  all  these  officers,  most  of  whom  were  in 
love  with  women,  either  their  wives  or  the  girls  they 
hoped  to  make  their  wives,  what  a  time  of  rejoicing  it 
was  when  partial  civilization  was  again  reached,  and  the 
cars  of  the  railroad  were  almost  in  sight,  meaning  to 
them  an  opportunity  to  go  East — or  failing  that,  at  least 
a  daily  mail !  Every  one's  heart  seemed  to  be  merry ; 
the  sound  of  laughter  and  song  rang  out  from  the 
tents,  and  the  soldiers  danced  in  the  company  streets 
to  the  music  of  an  Irish  bagpipe  (differing  somewhat 
from  tlie  Scotch  instrument,  but  with  just  as  merry 
music)  that  belonged  to  a  recruit  newly  arrived. 

Our  summer  camp  was  between  two  and  three  miles 
from  Fort  Hays,  on  Big  Creek.  Sometimes  the  stream 
ran  along  for  a  distance  with  no  timber  or  underbrush 
to  border  it,  but  the  place  selected  for  our  tents  was 
under  a  fringe  of  good  sized  cotton -wood -trees.  It 
was  most  gratifying  to  have  this  protection,  and  after 
a  hot  ride  on  the  arid  plain  we  came  under  the  boughs 
and  saw,  with  a  real  home  feeling,  the  white  tents 
gleaming  in  the  shade.     All  about  us  the  undulating 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CREEK.  69 

country  stretched  its  naked,  glaring  surface ;  not  even 
clumps  of  bushes  survived  the  scorching  sun  or  the 
fierce  tornadoes  of  wind  that  swept  unchecked  over 
the  great  unbroken  stretch  of  country. 

Professor  Hayden  so  clearly  explains  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  plains  that  I  here  insert  a  few  para- 
graphs from  his  account  of  the  matter: 

We  beUeve  that  at  the  close  of  the  cretaceous  period  the 
ocean  rolled  uninterruptedly  across  the  area  now  occupied 
by  the  Rocky  Mountain  Ranges.  Near  the  close  of  the  cre- 
taceous era  the  surface  had  reached  an  elevation  so  great  as 
to  form  long  lines  of  separation  between  the  waters  of  the 
Atlantic,  on  the  east,  and  those  of  the  Pacific  on  the  west ; 
and  thus  this  great  water-shed  began  to  rise  above  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Then,  also,  began  the  existence  of  the 
first  of  that  series  of  fresh-water  lakes  which  we  now  know 
was  a  most  prominent  feature  in  the  physical  geography  of 
this  country  during  the  tertiary  period. 

During  the  cretaceous  period  there  was  a  gradual,  slow 
elevation  of  the  whole  country  west  of  the  Mississippi ;  that 
about  the  close  of  that  period  the  crust  of  the  earth  had 
been  strained  to  its  utmost  tension,  and  long  lines  of  fract- 
ure commenced,  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  our  present 
mountain  ranges.  At  the  close  of  the  cretaceous  period,  in 
the  early  days  of  the  tertiary,  when  the  crust  had  been  ele- 
vated to  its  utmost  tension,  it  broke  sometimes  in  long  lines 
of  fracture,  which  gave  birth  to  these  lofty,  continuous  ranges 
along  the  eastern  portion  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  as  the 
Wind  River,  Big  Horn,  Black  Hills,  or  the  basaltic  ridges 
formed  by  outbursts  of  melted  matter  arranged  in  series 
of  sharp  peaks  or  sierras.  v 

It  is  possible  to  trace  the  growth  of  the  continent,  step  by 
step,  from  the  purely  marine  waters  of  the  cretaceous  ocean 


70  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

and  the  period  when  the  mountain  ranges  were  elevated  in 
well-defined  lines  above  the  waters,  causing  the  ocean  to  re- 
cede to  the  eastward  on  the  one  side,  and  to  the  westward 
on  the  other.  The  Rocky  Mountains  formed  immense  water- 
sheds, which  gave  birth  to  innumerable  fresh-water  streams, 
which  fed  those  great  tertiary  lakes  along  the  eastern  slope, 
two  out  of  the  four  or  five,  of  great  extent.  We  believe  that 
one,  the  great  Lignite  basin,  extends  as  far  southward  as 
California,  possibly,  westward  over  the  mountains  to  Utah, 
and  northward  probably  to  the  Arctic  Sea,  interrupted  by 
the  upheaval  of  mountain  ranges. 

It  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  fossil  flora  of  fan-palms 
and  other  tropical  plants,  which  points  to  the  conclusion 
that  along  the  shores  of  this  great  lake  grew  luxuriant  for- 
ests like  those  in  Central  America  and  Brazil. 

We  who  roamed  the  vast  plains  had  every  reason  to 
corroborate  all  the  investigations  that  the  scientists 
made.  The  great  trackless  waste  of  land  all  about  our 
camp  was  like  nothing  but  the  sea,  and  the  rolling 
country  we  rode  over  day  after  day  was  as  if  the  earth 
had  been  indented  by  waves  of  a  powerful  ocean.  We 
came  suddenly,  on  our  marches,  upon  canons  that  were 
sharp  fissures  in  the  earth  extending  for  many  miles. 
These  chasms,  in  an  otherwise  comparatively  level  sur- 
face, could  mean  nothing  but  cracks  in  the  cooling 
earth's  crust,  through  which  a  mighty  rush  of  water 
had  once  plunged,  deepening  and  widening  the  gorge. 
If  we  halted  for  luncheon,  and  spread  our  simple  meal 
on  the  stunted  grass,  we  could  reach  about  us  and  pick 
up  the  vertebrae  of  fish  that  had  once  glided  through 
water  where  we  then  sat. 


«  IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CREEK.  71 

In  geological  research  the  officers  of  our  army  have 
been  of  incalculable  nse  to  their  Government.  They 
explored  the  Indian  infested  countries  long  before  the 
colleges  or  Government  sent  out  scientists  for  the  pur- 
pose. The  remains  of  fishes,  serpents,  birds,  crocodiles, 
lizards,  turtles,  bats,  etc.,  were  gathered  by  our  officers 
and  sent  to  the  East.  It  was  a  strange  sensation  to 
find  ourselves  monarchs  in  a  land  which  once  was 
given  up  to  all  forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life, 
many  varieties  of  which  are  now  forever  gone  from 
the  earth.  The  moss-agate  was  as  common  as  the  peb- 
bles along  a  country  road,  and  we  broke  off  large  flakes 
of  rough  surface  to  find  incased  in  its  transparent  tomb 
exquisite  sprays  of  delicate  foliage,  which  reproduced 
in  stone  the  fairy,  fragile  flora  of  a  by-gone  time. 
There  was  nothing  remaining  of  that  time  of  exquisite 
herbage.  The  dull  sage -bush,  or  grease -root,  or  the 
sparse  buffalo-grass,  were  all  that  the  sun  spared  from 
its  scorching  rays. 

The  understanding  was  that  we  should  have  a  per- 
manent camp  during  the  summer.  By  that  it  was 
meant  that  the  regiment  would  have  a  headquarters  in 
the  fleld,  and  scouting  parties  be  sent  out  from  it.  As 
we  were  so  near  a  post,  it  was  not  difficult  to  get  all 
the  canvas  we  wanted.  Our  regimental  quartermaster 
made  requisition  for  the  tents,  which  would  be  return- 
ed to  the  post  in  the  autumn.  We  felt  very  rich,  for, 
by  borrowing  from  our  Uncle  Sam,  we  had  as  many 
rooms  as  some  houses  have — that  is,  calling  each  tent 
a  room.     The  sitting-room  was  a  hospital  tent  which 


72  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

is  perhaps  fourteen  by  sixteen.  It  was  clean,  and  had 
no  association  of  illness  to  keep  one  awake  with  imag- 
inings at  night.  These^  huge  tents  are  really  designed 
for  hospital  purposes,  but,  fortunately,  I  never  knew 
them  to  be  used  except  in  one  epidemic  of  cholera. 
In  the  few  cases  of  illness  or  injury  occurring  among 
the  soldiers  the  patients  were  sent  to  a  garrison  hospi- 
tal, for  most  posts  have  a  regular  building  for  this  pur- 
pose. Opening  out  at  the  rear  of  our  sitting-room  was 
our  own  room,  a  wall  tent  ten  by  twelve.  In  pitching 
these  tents  General  Custer  had  an  eye  for  a  tree  with 
wide-spreading  branches  to  shade  us,  and  in  order  to- 
utilize  it  he  put  the  tents  on  the  side  bank  running 
down  to  the  stream.  Of  course  it  was  necessary  to 
build  up  a  rough  embankment  of  stones  and  earth,  and 
that  left  the  tent  floor  at  the  rear  almost  up  to  the 
limbs  of  the  tree.  We  then  thought  how  foolish  of 
us  not  to  continue  the  floor  around  the  tree.  The  com- 
pany carpenter  built  such  a  comfortable  little  platform, 
with  a  railing,  that  we  felt  as  if  we  had  a  real  gallery 
to  our  canvas  house  ;  and  sitting  out  there,  Tom  smok- 
ing, I  sewing,  and  General  Custer  reading,  we  imagined 
Big  Creek  to  be  the  Hudson,  and  the  cotton -wood, 
whose  foliage  is  anything  but  thick,  to  be  a  graceful 
maple  or  a  stately,  branching  elm.  Our  brother  Tom, 
while  he  enjoyed  our  arbor,  refused  to  call  it  anything 
but  the  "  beer-garden  "^but  calling  names  did  not  de- 
stroy our  delight.  The  floors  of  the  tents  were  an  es- 
pecial luxury,  for  every  board  in  that  region  counted, 
as  it  was  difficult  to  get  lumber.     The  cotton -wood 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CREEK.  73 

warped  before  it  was  fairly  nailed  down,  and  a  pine 
plank  even  now  looks  to  me  like  rare  wealth. 

The  canvas  of  onr  rear  tent  was  cut  and  bound,  and 
a  roller  of  wood  to  keep  it  down  in  wind-storms  was 
sewed  in,  so  that  when  tied  up  it  left  a  broad  window, 
seven  feet  wide,  opening  on  the  platform  and  giving  a 
fine  circulation  of  air.  A  huge  tarpaulin  of  very  thick 
canvas,  used  to  cover  grain  and  military  stores,  for 
which  there  was  not  room  in  the  storehouses,  was 
spread  over  the  large  tent  and  extended  far  in  front, 
so  that  we  had  a  wide  porch,  under  which  we  sat  most 
of  the  time. 

It  was  with  great  relief  that  I  saw  the  holes  dug  in 
which  to  sink  the  poles  at  the  four  corners  of  each 
tent.  These  were  usually  young  saplings  with  a  notch 
near  the  top ;  and  across  the  two  on  either  side  was 
laid  another  long  pole,  to  which  the  ropes  were  lashed 
so  securely  that  no  storm  tore  the  tent  down  during  all 
the  summer.  To  have  a  whole  summer  of  relief  from 
fear  that  our  cotton-house  would  blow  over  was  a  great 
boon,  for  a  Kansas  wind  can  do  much  havoc  with  can- 
vas, and  it  is  not  comfortable  to  lie  watching  a  swaying 
ridge-pole  in  a  storm  and  imagine  yourself  crushed  in 
its  downfall. 

We  had,  of  course,  only  the  barest  necessities  in  the 
tents — a  rude  bunk  for  a  bed,  a  stool,  with  tin  wash- 
basin, a  bucket  for  water,  and  a  little  shaving-glass  for 
a  mirror.  The  carpenter  had  nailed  together  some 
benches  and  a  cumbrous  table.  These,  with  our  camp- 
chairs,  were  our  furniture.     There  was  a  monotonous 


74  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

similarity  of  construction  in  the  chairs  made  by  the 
carpenter.  Each  consisted  of  one  long  board  rounded 
at  the  top,  to  which  another  shorter  board  was  nailed 
for  the  seat,  and  another  put  on  as  a  brace  at  the  back. 
One  of  our  friends  had  a  chair  of  this  pattern,  and  as 
her  husband,  coming  home  to  the  tent  at  dusk,  saw  this 
white -pine  board  gleaming  through  the  twilight,  he 
called  out,  merrily :  "  If  you  do  '  turn  up  your  toes  to 
the  daisies,'  we  can  just  set  this  up  at  your  head,  with 
the  inscription,  'Died  so-and-so';  it  wojald  make  a 
beautiful  tombstone."  They  were  truly  sepulchral- 
looking,  but  we  were  not  inclined  to  be  over-critical  of 
the  style.  It  never  occurred  to  us  that  we  wanted  any- 
thing more;  for  if  all  the  camp-chairs,  benches,  and 
stools  were  occupied,  the  young  officers  threw  them- 
selves down  on  the  buffalo -robes,  or  smoked  sitting, 
a  la  Turque^  on  a  blanket  spread  under  the  fly.  Sev- 
eral Indian  articles  of  luxury  had  been  given  us,  out 
of  which  we  had  much  comfort.  They  consisted  of 
a  light  framework  of  interwoven  willow  withes  about 
the  width  of  a  chair-back,  and  were  called  head-rests. 
These  were  laid  on  the  ground,  raised  at  the  farther 
end  at  a  gentle  inclination,  and  strongly  propped  at  the 
back.  They  could  be  rolled  into  small  compass  for  car- 
rying, and  were  vastly  superior  in  strength  to  anything 
we  could  buy.  When  the  officers  reclined  on  these 
primitive  but  comfortable  affairs,  smoking,  they  looked 
so  at  ease  that  we  addressed  them  as  "  bashi-bazouk," 
or  pacha,  or  by  some  Eastern  term  that  suggested  hab- 
its of  luxurious  indulgence. 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CREEK.  75 

On  the  right  of  our  tent  began  tlie  others — one  for 
guests,  another  for  the  dining-tent,  then  the  round  Sib- 
ley, that  General  Custer  had  used  during  the  winter, 
for  the  cook  tent.  This  must  have  been  modelled  af- 
ter an  Indian  tepee,  as  it  looked  much  like  it.  At  that 
time  Sibley  tents  were  not  in  use,  but  why,  we  could 
never  understand,  as  the  wind  had  so  little  purchase 
upon  them,  finding  no  corners  to  toy  with,  that  this 
circular  house  could  almost  defy  a  hurricane.  The  fire 
was  built  in  the  centre,  and  the  smoke  escaped  through 
an  aperture  at  the  top,  which  could  be  half  covered, 
according  to  the  direction  of  the  wind,  by  pulling  ropes 
attached  to  a  little  fly.  The  Indians  had  the  same 
arrangement,  only  they  managed  the  opening  a  little 
better. 

Next  to  the  Sibley  was  a  veritable  tepee,  that  Gen- 
eral Custer  had  brought  from  an  abandoned  Indian 
village.  It  was  made  of  tanned  buffalo  skins  sewed 
together  with  leather  thongs,  and  stretched  over  a 
framework  of  thirty-six  lodge-poles.  These  poles  are 
fastened  together  at  the  top,  and  extend  out  in  all 
directions  above  the  hide  covering.  They  are  a  pre- 
cious possession  in  the  eyes  of  an  Indian,  as  he  is  often 
obliged  to  travel  hundreds  of  miles  to  procure  them,  in 
the  heavily  timbered  part  of  the  country,  where  strong, 
light,  flexible  saplings  can  be  cut.  The  buffalo  hides 
were  covered  with  rude  drawings  representing  the  his- 
tory of  the  original  owner,  his  prowess  in  killing  Ind- 
ians at  war  with  his  tribe,  the  taking  of  the  white  man's 
scalp,  or  the  stealing  of  ponies.     Instead  of  the  flap  of 


76  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

the  entrance  opening  down  to  the  ground,  the  aperture 
began  some  distance  up,  so  that  one  had  to  undo  and 
pull  out  innumerable  little  sticks  that  were  put  through 
holes  in  the  hide,  and  made  quite  a  step  up  before  get- 
ting into  the  tepee.  As  it  was  carefully  staked  down 
with  picket -pins  all  about  the  edge,  and  a  ditch  was 
dug  around  to  carry  off  the  water,  such  a  tepee  could 
challenge  almost  any  storm.  In  this  house  of  the  abo- 
rigine lived  our  Henry,  a  colored  coachman,  who  had 
come  with  us  from  Virginia  years  before.  Sometimes 
he  was  teased  by  having  his  possessions  pilfered,  some- 
times some  one  borrowed  and  forgot  to  return;  but 
after  the  general  gave  him  the  tepee  to  live  in,  and 
he  had  tied  a  dog  inside,  and  fastened  the  flap  with  the 
wooden  pins,  his  "  traps "  were  secure,  and  he  said : 
"'Tain't  no  kind  or  manner  of  use  to  try  to  lift*  my 
plunder  now ;  for,  as  the  soldiers  say,  *  I  got  the  bulge 
on  all  of  em.'"  Usually  a  small  line  was  hung  to  a 
tree  at  the  rear,  proclaiming  that  all  days  were  Mon- 
days with  Henry.  He  was  very  neat,  and  the  clothes 
swinging  in  the  breeze  were  his  washing.  He  said  to 
me  one  day :  "  The  general  jest  tries  to  tease  me  about 
ray  washin'.  I  jest  tell  him,  'I  ain't  no  Chinee,  gen- 
eral, and  can't  wash  any  but  my  Government  clothes, 
but  those  can't  be  beat.'  '^ 

We  were  living  quite  apart  from  the  main  camp,  in 
a  little  curve  in  the  creek.  The  two  other  oflScers  who 
had  brought  their  wives  out  joined  us,  and  put  their 

*  "Lift,"  a  word  meaninor  steal. 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CKEEK.  77 

tents  farther  on  in  the  bend.  Kearer  the  prairie  the 
parade-ground  began,  then  the  rows  of  tents  of  the 
companies  and  the  picket -ropes  for  the  horses.  The 
soldiers  lived  in  "A"  tents,  so  called  because  they  have 
no  side  walls,  but  slope  directly  from  the  ground  to  the 
ridge-pole  which  joins  the  two  upright  poles,  one  at 
either  end.  At  the  end  of  each  company  street  stood 
a  wall  tent  for  the  first  sergeant,  who,  as  ranking  non- 
commissioned officer  of  the  company,  is  a  great  person- 
age with  the  enlisted  men.  At  a  little  distance,  facing 
the  company  street,  were  the  tents  of  the  captain  and 
lieutenant  of  each  company.  The  sutler's  tent  was  far- 
ther on  at  the  other  end  of  the  line.  Nearer  us  was  a 
great  room  put  up  by  the  soldiers  for  their  own  enter- 
tainment. It  was  built  of  a  framework  of  logs  and 
cotton-wood  slabs,  over  which  were  nailed  tarpaulins. 
It  was  dignified  by  the  name  of  the  Opera  House.  The 
sutler  lent  a  billiard-table,  and  in  this  improvised  hall 
the  soldiers  could  give  minstrel  performances  or  con- 
certs. There  is  always  in  the  ranks  much  amateur  and 
sometimes  some  professional  "  talent."  There  were  the 
clog-dancers,  who  were  the  idols  of  our  regiment.  How 
they  managed  to  carry  their  professional  shoes  and 
tights  was  always  a  secret.  The  soldier  is  only  allowed 
his  haversack  for  his  food  and  his  overcoat,  inside  of 
which  he  can  squeeze  a  few  things.  The  roll  at  the 
back  of  the  saddle  is  made  up  very  tight  on  parades 
and  inspection  days,  but  on  a  march  an  indulgent  offi- 
cer allows  the  bundle  to  expand  so  that  it  mounts  half- 
way up  the  soldier's  back.     If  the  officer  is  strict,  he 


78  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

demands  to  see  the  inside  of  this  roll  and  orders  it  re- 
duced; then  the  soldier  makes  friends  with  the  team- 
ster who  drives  the  one  wagon  with  the  company  prop- 
erty, and  the  violin,  accordion,  banjo,  or  other  extra, 
like  the  clog-dancer's  shoes,  is  slipped  into  the  box  un- 
der the  driver's  seat,  and  no  one  thinks  of  "  inspect- 
ing" hini. 

A  teamster  is  rather  an  independent  sort  of  being. 
He  swears  and  growls,  and  when  his  wagon  is  stuck  in 
quicksand,  or  up  to  the  hub  in  mud,  no  one  ventures 
to  enter  into  conversation  with  him.  He  has  ways, 
last  resorts  for  stirring  his  animals  from  lethargy  into 
activity,  but  in  emergencies  he  communes  only  with 
himself  or  with  them.  The  soldiers  may  be  directed 
to  "man  the  wheels,"  and  after  fifty  are  tugging  at 
the  ropes  that  are  fastened  to  the  axles,  calling  out 
"  Heave  ho !"  as  sailors  do  at  each  new  struggle,  the 
teamster's  voice  rises  above  all  in  invectives  that  are 
startling  to  every  one  except  the  mules.  But  the  big 
hearts  of  these  frontiersmen  are  something  to  remem- 
ber. They  are  very  apt  to  share  everything  they  have 
with  whoever  comes  along.  They  hide  and  coddle  a 
little  fyst  dog,  or  make  a  soft  place  for  a  pet  antelope, 
and  take  care  of  these  creatures  like  trained  nurses. 

During  the  war  there  were  some  splendid  stories 
told  of  army  teamsters.  Ferocious  and  blasphemous 
as  they  seemed  to  be,  they  took  many  steps  to  aid  the 
freedman,  and  permitted  the  ragged,  half-starved,  foot- 
sore children  of  the  plantations — for  they  were,  even 
at  sixty  years  of  age,  nothing  but  children — to  share 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIO   CREEK.  79 

their  scats  or  their  fare  with  them.  The  story  that 
stays  by  me  is  of  a  burly  driver  who  fearlessly  tended 
a  little  negro  baby,  whose  mother  had  abandoned  it  by 
the  road-side.  It  is  the  sarcasm  and  bantering  that 
makes  all  of  us  hide  our  good  deeds,  or  prevents  our 
doing  any  at  all  in  public — but  this  tender-hearted 
man  let  hundreds  of  soldiers  pass  him  as  his  wagon 
was  being  dragged  slowly  along  by  the  tired  mules, 
and  heard,  quite  unmoved,  the  ribaldry  and  the  keen 
wit  which  comes  from  a  line  of  soldiers,  and  which 
sets  the  company  into  roars  of  laughter,  while  he  held 
the  little  pickaninny  with  one  arm  and  managed  the 
reins  with  the  other. 

General  Custer  was  genuinely  attached  to  the  Gov- 
ernment teamster  who  drove  his  headquarters  wagon 
during  the  campaign  of  the  winter.  He  was  very  in- 
telligent, and  as  some  of  our  teamsters  then  were  old 
stage-drivers,  they  had  a  fund  of  anecdote  and  valuable 
information  about  what  they  called  the  "  lay  of  the 
land,"  the  features  of  the  country,  etc.  Our  teamster 
was  rarely  moved  to  wrath,  nor  did  he  seem  capable  of 
becoming  excited  over  any  occurrence.  By  some  rare 
iHode  of  silent  understanding  the  driver  and  the  mas- 
ter became  deeply  attached  to  each  other.  If  General 
Custer  came  with  his  orderly  galloping  up  to  the  wag- 
on at  the  rear  w^ith  game,  or  with  the  head  of  an  elk 
or  a  buffalo  to  preserve,  the  driver  found  a  place  for 
the  article  in  his  crowded  wagon,  and  his  own  little 
camp-fire  at  night  crackled  as  the  buffalo,  antelope, 
or  venison  steak  given  him  dropped  its  fat  from  the 


80  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

stick  on  which  he  broiled  his  supper.  When  the  sum- 
mer was  ended,  and  these  two  were  about  to  part,  Gen- 
eral Custer  asked  for '  his  picture,  but  what  was  his 
disappointment  when  he  found  the  patched  and  pictu- 
resque clothes  of  the  summer  were  replaced  for  the 
occasion  by  new  "  store  clothes ;"  a  thing  which  took 
all  the  naturalness  away. 

The  pleasure  of  our  camp  life  was  greatly  enhanced 
by  our  being  so  near  the  post.  Fort  Hays  was  com- 
manded by  General  Nelson  Miles,  who  liad  been  but  a 
short  time  on  the  plains,  and  though  an  infantry  colo- 
nel, was  at  heart  a  true  cavalryman,  and  entirely  in 
sympathy  with  our  branch  of  the  service.  The  man- 
ner in  which  he  welcomed  our  regiment,  ragged  and 
travel-stained  from  their  long  campaign,  won  all  hearts. 
The  band  in  full  uniform  was  sent  to  accompany  the 
regiment  for  a  distance,  and  played  the  Seventh  Cavalry 
tune,  "  Garryowen."  General  Miles  rode  at  the  head 
of  the  column,  and  all  the  officers  came  from  their 
companies  to  join  him  for  the  short  distance  he  rode 
with  us.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  he  envied 
the  success  of  the  regiment,  and  should  emulate  their 
successful  mode  of  Indian  fighting  as  soon  as  he  had 
an  opportunity. 

Of  course,  with  such  a  reception  we  knew  that  we 
were  all  quite  welcome,  and  though  we  had  little  to 
offer  them  in  the  way  of  hospitality,  it  was  always  a 
pleasant  sight  to  us  when  an  ambulance  from  the  post 
came  in  view  round  the  bend,  filled  with  ladies  with 
cavaliers  as  outriders. 


IN   CAMP   ON   BIG   CEEEK.  81 

The  post  was  about  as  dreary  a  spot  as  can  be  im- 
agined. I  do  not  remember  a  tree  near  it,  and  the 
sparse,  stunted  grass  on  the  scorched  parade-ground 
was  scarcely  green.  The  officers'  quarters  were  almost 
as  plain  and  bare  as  the  soldiers'  barracks,  and  were 
crowded.  Two  families,  I  remember,  who  were  not 
friendly,  were  obliged  to  live  in  a  double  set  of  quarters. 
The  hall  was  narrow,  the  rooms  were  small,  and  the  walls 
so  thin  that  every  word  spoken  on  one  side  could  be 
distinctly  heard  on  the  other.  The  wife  of  one  of  our 
Seventh  Cavalry  officers  was  the  occupant  of  the  quar- 
ters on  one  side,  and  the  wife  of  an  infantry  officer  lived 
on  the  other.  A  swarm  of  little  children  prevented 
the  cavalry  officer's  wife  from  coming  to  camp  to  live, 
but  she  consoled  herself  as  best  she  could  by  the  per- 
mit her  husband  received  to  spend  from  Saturday  night 
till  Monday  morning*  of  every  week  at  home.  The 
husband  and  wife  were  of  different  nationalities,  and 
though  sincerely  attached  to  each  other,  they  were 
of  such  decided  natures  that  they  disagreed  on  many 
points.  When  the  children  were  all  in  bed  on  Satur- 
day night  it  became  necessary,  as  the  wife  told  me, 
that  the  question  at  issue,  whatever  it  might  be,  should 
be  talked  over — each  endeavoring,  I  suppose,  to  con- 
vince the  other  that  he  or  she  was  wrong.  But,  as  the 
madame  further  explained,  it  was  impossible,  while  her 
enemy  was  on  the  other  side  of  so  thin  a  wall,  to  enter 
into  any  animated  discussion,  lest  she  and  her  spouse 
should  be  accused  of  serious  quarrelling ;  so,  as  she  ex- 
pressed it,  "  We  were  obliged  to  go  out  on  the  parade- 
6 


82  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

ground  and  have  it  out  there."  Then,  when  the  ar- 
gument was  done  and  the  domestic  air  cleared,  they 
returned  to  their  cramped  little  quarters,  the  wife 
cooked  her  companion  an  excellent  supper,  and  liarmo- 
ny  reigned  until  the  next  difference  of  opinion.  A 
government  that  deprives  a  man  of  the  luxury  of  a 
Caudle  lecture  may  have  male  supporters  in  plenty, 
but  no  one  can  uphold  a  parsimonious  country  in  de- 
priving a  man  and  woman  of  the  privilege  of  arguing — 
to  put  it  mildly — and  compelling  them  both  to  take  to 
the  open  prairie  to  do  the  necessary  convincing.  In 
this  small  and  uncomfortable  post  there  was  much 
happiness,  harmony,  and  generous  hospitality,  and  we 
joined  in  many  a  little  merrymaking  among  the  cord- 
ial people. 

They  scarcely  realized  what  pleasure  they  gave  us. 
We  are  told  something  of  one  who  gives  a  cup  of  wa- 
ter to  a  thirsty  man,  but  when  in  this  case  it  turned 
out  to  be  ice-water,  those  who  were  condemned  habitu- 
ally to  drink  the  rather  warm  water  of  Big  Creek  were 
anxious  to  add  a  line  to  the  blessing  in  token  of  grati- 
tude. Our  young  officers  sometimes  came  home  at 
night  from  the  post,  after  an  evening's  hospitality, 
full  of  boyish  delight  over  a  pie  or  a  cake  baked  on 
purpose  for  them,  and  almost  ludicrously  grateful  for 
the  ministration  to  appetites  long  unused  to  dainty 
-gratification. 


ifatiQue. 

3 


p^;^=^MlMt4 


CHAPTER  VII. 


INDIAN    PRISONERS 


The  one  feature  of  great  interest  at  the  post  was 
the  presence  of  the  Indian  prisoners  brought  from  the 
battle  of  the  Washita.  General  Custer  was  obliged  to 
go  to  them  very  often,  as  he  had  learned  their  sign- 
language,  and  his  scout,  who  spoke  their  dialect,  acted 
as  interpreter.  It  happened,  therefore,  that  we  often 
rode  up  on  horseback,  or  I  drove  in  our  large  travel- 
ling carriage  to  take  guests,  who  were  constantly  com- 
ing by  the  Eastern  trains. 

It  was  an  unprecedented  event  to  have  sixty  Indians 
from  warlike  tribes  on  whom  we  could  safely  look, 
or  with  whom  we  could  actually  visit.  I  cannot  say 
that  I  mounted  my  horse  with  perfect  tranquillity  the 
first  time  General  Custer  took  me  up  to  see  them, 
nor  that  the  hand  that  held  my  Phil  was  quite  steady. 


84  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

Though  there  were  but  three  cliiefs  among  them,  and 
those  carefully  guarded,  I  had  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
what  desperate  work  the  squaws  and  children  had  done 
in  the  battle ;  and  our  own  General  Gibbs  described  a 
charge  he  had  made  into  an  Indian  village  before  the 
war,  where  he  had  seen  an  old  squaw  cease  for  an  in- 
stant stirring  her  soup,  snatch  her  knife  from  her 
belt,  plunge  it  into  a  soldier  who  was  unsuspicious  of  a 
woman  as  a  warrior,  resume  her  soup-stirring  perfectly 
imperturbed,  not  even  looking  at  the  dead  soldier  at 
her  side.  All  these,  and  many  more  such  tales,  from 
my  friends  who  had  been  eye-witnesses,  made  the  road 
from  camp  to  Hays  a  purgatory  to  me,  and  for  once 
my  side  of  the  conversation  languished.  General  Cus- 
ter understood  that  silence  meant  fright  with  me,  as 
scarcely  anything  save  fright  kept  me  still,  and  he  re- 
assured me  over  and  over  again.  He  reminded  me 
that  every  advantage  was  ours — that  these  were  whip- 
ped and,  consequently,  peaceful  Indians ;  but  Indians 
were  Indians  to  me,  and  no  amount  of  explanation 
quieted  my  agitation. 

To  add  to  my  fears,  I  found  Phil  trembling  as  we 
neared  the  high  stockade  which  had  been  built  next  to 
the  guard-house.  Horses  once  thoroughly  frightened 
by  Indians  never  quite  recover  from  their  panic.  Their 
sense  of  smell  is  so  keen  that  they  early  begin  to  man- 
ifest their  inward  perturbation  by  the  quivering  ears, 
which  express  so  much.  I  had  all  I  could  do  to  keep 
Phil  from  turning  back  to  camp,  and  had  not  my  rep- 
utation for  horsemanship  been  at  stake  I  should  have 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  85 

liked  to  give  him  his  head,  for  I  wanted  to  go  back 
just  as  badly  as  he  wanted  to  take  me  in  that  direc- 
tion. It  was  a  relief  to  dismount  and  give  the  restless 
brute  to  the  orderly,  for  as  I  was  riding  with  a  snaffle- 
bit  to  get  a  smoother  gait,  he  had  nearly  dragged  my 
arms  from  their  sockets. 

The  stockade  where  the  prisoners  were  confined  was 
perhaps  fifteen  feet  high,  and  made  of  perpendicular 
logs  driven  deep  into  the  ground.  Near  the  top  ran  a 
sentinePs  walk  around  the  whole  corral.  The  enclosure 
was  big  enough  to  hold  several  large  tents,  and  yet  leave 
a  good-sized  vacant  place  where  the  children  could  play. 
We  ascended  the  steps  by  which  the  sentinel  reached 
his  beat,  and  looked  down  upon  the  occupants,  but  this 
did  not  satisfy  General  Custer.  He  took  me  inside ; 
and,  as  the  crowd  of  women  and  children  gathered 
around  me,  I  almost  felt  knives  penetrating  my  dress 
for  a  deadly  stab,  so  great  was  my  distress.  I  was  in- 
troduced, and  at  once  was  an  object  of  great  interest, 
for  General  Custer  had  established  confidence  in  them 
and  they  trusted  his  word.  Moreover,  there  is  no  de- 
nying that  a  man  who  has  once  conquered  Indians  in 
battle  commands  the  deepest  admiration  possible  to 
their  natures.  When  he  told  the  squaws  that  I  was 
his  wife  they  made  a  sign  to  ask  if  I  was  the  only  one; 
and  an  expression  of  compassion  came  into  their  faces 
when  he  said  yes,  for  among  some  of  the  tribes  an  Ind- 
ian is  always  very  much  married  if  he  is  a  chief  of  any 
consequence.  Possibly  they  imagined  that  a  white  wife 
has  the  same  amount  of  labor  to  perform  for  her  hus- 


86  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

band  that  a  chiefs  squaws  have,  and  they  pitied  me. 
Polygamy  has  its  advantages  when  it  provides  for  a 
division  of  the  heavy  labor  done  by  the  squaw  wives. 

The  squaws  came  still  closer,  put  their  hands  on  my 
shoulder,  smoothing  and  caressing  me.  Others  took 
my  hand  in  their  horny  old  palms,  the  touch  of  which 
moved  me  to  pity,  as  it  revealed  the  amount  and  kind 
of  work  that  they  had  done ;  but,  worst  of  all,  the 
oldest,  most  withered  and  wizened  of  them  laid  their 
cheeks  against  mine,  after  the  manner  of  their  kissing. 
For  once  I  was  grateful  that  there  are  fashions  in  os- 
culation as  there  are  in  everything  else. 

I  kept  my  eyes  furtively  on  the  entrance,  looked 
stealthily  towards  the  sentinel,  and  sought  a  reassuring 
look  from  General  Custer.  The  squaws  and  children 
had  many  requests  to  make,  and  being  busy  with  them, 
he  had  nO  idea  how  tremulous  were  my  steps,  for  after 
reassuring  me  at  the  gate  he  supposed  that  my  fears 
had  departed.  Besides,  he  too  was  soon  the  centre  of 
a  group  of  old  hags,  who  drew  his  head  down  to  lay 
their  parchment  cheeks  against  his,  and  crooned  some 
gibberish  over  him. 

It  is  strangely  difficult  to  realize  that  deaf  people 
or  foreigners  do  not  understand  us,  and  in  speaking 
of  them  in  their  presence  we  involuntarily  lower  our 
voices.  I  asked  under  my  breath  why  the  old  women 
singled  him  out,  and  made  him  submit  to  the  kind  of 
caresses  they  had  invented,  while  the  young  and  coy 
faces  were  seen  shyly  hanging  back  on  the  outer  limits 
of  the  circle.     He  explained,  in  a  word  or  two,  that 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  87 

among  certain  tribes  it  was  deemed  eminently  proper 
for  the  grandmothers  and  elderly  squaws  to  embrace 
strangers,  but  it  was  not  permitted  to  the  young  girls 
either  to  receive  or  to  offer  such  familiarities. 

I  forced  a  smile  of  feigned  pleasure  at  all  the  atten- 
tions bestowed  upon  me,  and  so  hid  my  tremors  and 
my  revulsion,  but  inwardly  I  wished  with  all  my  heart 
that  the  younger  and  prettier  women  had  been  detail- 
ed as  a  reception  committee.  The  cunning  and  crafty 
looks  of  the  antique  ones  kept  me  imagining  that  knives 
were  hidden  in  the  voluminous  folds  of  their  blankets, 
and  that,  quick  as  thought,  they  might  plunge  one  into 
us  as  we  stood  there  defenceless,  for  General  Custer,  to 
inspire  confidence  in  these  prisoners,  entered  the  en- 
closure unarmed. 

The  old  women  were  most  repulsive  in  their  appear- 
ance. The  hair  was  thin  and  wiry,  scattering  over  their 
shoulders  and  hanging  over  their  eyes.  Their  faces 
were  seamed  and  lined  with  such  furrows  as  come  from 
the  hardest  toil,  and  the  most  terrible  exposure  to  every 
kind  of  weather  and  hardship,  as  the  roving  life  took 
them  sometimes  to  the  bleak  north,  and  again  as  far  as 
the  hot  suns  of  Texas.  The  dull  and  sunken  eyes  seem- 
ed to  be  shrivelled  like  their  skins.  The  ears  of  these 
hideous  old  frights  were  punctured  with  holes  from 
the  top  to  the  lobe,  where  rings  once  hung,  but  torn 
out,  or  so  enlarged  as  they  were  by  years  of  carrying 
the  weight  of  heavy  brass  ornaments,  the  orifices  were 
now  empty,  and  the  ragged  look  of  the  skin  was  repug- 
nant to  me. 


88  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

They  wore  one  garment,  cut  in  the  most  primitive 
manner,  and  over  this  a  blanket,  held  in  at  the  waist 
by  the  rough  leather  belt  into  which  they  had  driven 
as  many  brass-headed  nails  as  it  would  hold.  As  this 
blanket  fell  loosely  over  the  belt,  they  made  it  a  recep- 
tacle for  every  sort  of  utensil  or  household  article,  and 
were  constantly  thrusting  their  hands  into  its  ample 
folds  and  bringing  forth  strange  objects.  It  was  at 
this  opening  of  the  garment  that  I  gazed,  expecting 
that  each  successive  article  would  be  the  dreaded  weapon 
with  which  to  despatch  me. 

The  bent  old  witches  were  curious  beyond  concep- 
tion about  every  object  I  had  on,  and  with  an  effort  to 
suppress  the  terrified  start  with  which  I  felt  my  hair 
being  examined  at  my  back,  I  made  an  effort  to  bend 
my  head  in  politeness  while  the  bird  on  my  hat  was 
fingered.  They  compared  my  hair  to  theii-s,  laying  the 
two  side  by  side,  and  generously  giving  mine  the  pref- 
erence. The  children  were  called  to  admire  the  mili- 
tary buttons  on  my  habit,  as  on  the  plains  our  riding 
costumes  were  nmch  gayer  than  the  regulation  habits 
we  wore  near  or  in  a  city.  My  hand  was  imprisoned, 
and  the  kid  stroked  and  toyed  with,  while  an  inquiry 
was  made,  by  signs  to  General  Custer,  asking  what 
young  animal  ever  wore  that  soft  skin.  While  they 
bent  over  the  hand  General  Custer  said  to  me  in  a  low 
monotone,  for  the  purpose  of  teasing  by  frightening 
me,  "They  would  admire  those  gloves,  even  to  the 
point  of  possession,  should  they  catch  you  alone  out- 
side the  post !"    It  was  all  I  could  do  not  to  snatch  my 


INDLiN   PRISONERS.  89 

hand  away,  and  run  as  hard  as  I  could  to  the  exit  of 
the  stockade. 

Even  my  feet  were  not  neglected,  and  comparisons 
ensued ;  but  they  disapproved  of  my  shoes,  thinking 
their  soft,  pliable  moccasins  preferable.  After  all  this 
careful  inspection  they  turned  to  General  Custer  and 
gave  their  opinion  of  me,  which  amused  him  hugely ; 
but  I  was  denied  a  translation  of  their  verdict. 

Meanwhile  the  future  warriors  of  the  tribe  danced 
around  us,  yelling  and  gesticulating  like  embryo  chiefs. 
They  played  like  other  children  in  racing,  catching 
each  other,  and  scuffling;  but  their  arrow  shooting 
showed  how  truly  the  child  is  father  to  the  man.  It 
was  done  with  the  coolest,  steadiest  -  handed,  most 
"nervy"  skill  of  a  trained  marksman.  Even  the  tini- 
est, with  his  one  little  garment  fluttering  in  the  breeze, 
could  handle  a  bow  with  the  grace  and  dexterity  of 
the  matured  boys.  The  latter  were  naked  save  for 
the  cincture  about  their  loins,  but  still  the  little  girls, 
burdened  with  a  blanket,  belted  on  like  their  mothers', 
could  fly  over  the  ground  as  lightly  and  swiftly  as  the 
bronzed  legs  that  followed  them  in  pursuit.  The  pap- 
pooses  came  the  nearest  of  anything  in  that  strange 
place  to  making  me  forget  my  trepidation.  Swathed 
in  innumerable  bandages  wound  tightly  round  the  lit- 
tle form,  as  is  the  Italian  bambino,  it  was  a  wonder 
that  the  bright,  black  beads  of  eyes  looked  out  from 
the  nest  as  contentedly  as  they  did.  If  one  unaccus- 
tomed to  children  trembles  to  hold  a  white  infant  be- 
cause the  sprawling  arms  and  limbs  seem  to  be  drop- 


90  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

ping  off,  there  is  no  such  difficulty  with  a  pappoose.  It 
is  gathered  into  a  little  cocoon-like  roll  that  stays  where 
you  put  it,  because  the  limbs  are  lashed  into  absolute 
quietude.  The  brown  mothers  were  just  as  suscepti- 
ble to  flattery  concerning  their  babies  as  white  women 
are,  and  understood  as  readily  as  if  they  spoke  our  lan- 
guage that  everything  we  said  was  praise.  We  said, 
sotto  voce,  "  Talk  about  a  universal  language,  there  is 
one,  and  it  is  flattery." 

There  was  one  little  scion  of  the  race  in  whom  we 
felt  extreme  interest,  because  it  had  been  born  after 
the  prisoners  were  taken  at  the  battle  of  the  "Washita. 
Its  mother  deserves  the  first  word.  Her  two  names, 
Nav-a-rouc-ta  and  Mo-nah-se-tah,  were  so  musical  that 
they  well  became  the  comely  squaw.  The  latter  meant 
"  The  grass  that  shoots  in  the  spring."  She  was  the 
Princess,  the  ranking  woman  among  them  all,  being 
the  daughter  of  Little  Eock,  who,  since  the  death  of 
Black  Kettle,  in  the  battle  of  the  Washita,  was  the 
highest  in  authority  among  the  Cheyennes.  During 
the  winter  her  intelligence  and  judgment  had  been  of 
service  in  the  attempts  that  had  been  made  to  bring 
the  tribes  to  surrender.  When  couriers  from  among 
the  Indians,  who  had  previously  given  themselves  up, 
had  been  sent  out  to  their  villages  to  try  to  induce  the 
others  to  come  in,  Mo-nah-se-tah  had  been  consulted 
and  her  advice  taken.  Mah-wis-sa,  sister  of  Black 
Kettle,  had  been  a  powerful  ally  in  endeavoring  to 
bring  her  tribe  to  terms  of  peace,  but  when  she  went 
on  a  journey  to  her  village  her  people  detained  her, 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  91 

sending  back  the  warrior  who  accompanied  her  with 
the  messages. 

Mo-nah-se-tah  could  be  most  useful  in  examining  a 
trail,  and  the  painstaking  of  her  patient  search  was 
something  wonderful  to  watch.  The  bones  of  the 
game  killed  by  the  party  encamping,  the  fur  or  skin 
of  the  animals,  the  ashes  of  the  camp-fire,  all  the  small 
and  apparently  unimportant  details  were  suggestions 
to  her.  The  condition  of  the  marrow  in  the  bones 
told  her  the  length  of  time  the  game  had  been  killed, 
the  ashes  yielded  up  their  testimony  as  to  when  they 
had  been  red  with  the  glow  of  a  camp-fire.  Of  course 
the  troopers  soon  learned  to  trace  a  trail  when  ponies' 
hoofs  and  lodge-poles  had  beaten  down  the  grass,  but 
for  siibtle  study  of  the  smaller  signs  no  one  could 
equal  an  Indian,  and  above  all  a  squaw,  on  account 
of  her  delicate  touch  and  her  untiring  patience. 

Mo-nah-se-tah  had  in  many  other  ways  made  herself 
of  service  to  the  command.  She  was  young  and  at- 
tractive, perfectly  contented,  and  trustful  of  the  white 
man's  promises,  and  the  acknowledged  belle  among  all 
other  Indian  maidens.  Until  a  girl  is  married  her  life 
with  her  tribe  is  one  of  ease.  The  older  women  wait 
on  her,  and  no  duty  or  labor  is  ever  exacted.  The  idle 
lolling  of  the  young  girls  about  an  Indian  village  is  in 
strange  contrast  to  the  untiring  industry  of  the  mar- 
ried women.  "Work  of  the  most  exhausting  kind  be- 
comes their  portion  after  marriage.  The  game  may 
be  shot  by  the  braves,  but  it  is  the  women  who  ride 
out  to  the  hunting-ground,  bring  back  and  prepare  the 


92  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

animal  for  use,  jerking  the  meat — that  is,  cutting  it  ia 
strips  and  drying  it  on  poles — and  tanning  the  skin.  I 
never  heard  of  a  buffalo-robe  being  dressed  by  an  Ind- 
ian man.  The  women  tanned  all  of  them.  There  is 
a  great  amount  of  work  necessary  to  tan  a  buffalo- hide. 
It  is,  while  still  pliable,  stretched  on  the  ground  and 
tacked  down  on  the  edge  very  closely  with  small 
wooden  pegs.  Then,  day  after  day,  the  squaw  bends 
over  the  skin,  rubbing  it  with  a  very  hard  bit  of  stone 
that  is  kept  for  the  purpose.  When  the  hide  is  soft 
and  quite  white  her  lord  often  sketches  his  career  on 
the  surface.  The  figures  are  usually  painted  in  red, 
blue,  and  yellow,  and  the  pictorial  history  consists  of 
the  number  of  Indians  at  war  with  the  tribe,  or  the 
number  of  white  men  the  invincible  has  shot.  Some- 
times a  buffalo  hunt  is  added.  It  is  almost  invariably 
the  chiefs  public  life  that  is  delineated :  domestic  de- 
tail seems  to  him  too  insignificant,  and  besides,  it  would 
elevate  the  servile  squaw  to  a  plane  she  is  never  al- 
lowed to  reach.  The  hauling  of  wood  and  water,  the 
pitching  of  tepees,  the  packing  of  camp  equipage,  and 
the  braiding  and  embroidery  of  the  war  garments,  to- 
bacco-pouches, and  gun-cases  of  tlie  warriors,  besides 
cooking  the  food  and  the  care  of  the  children,  left  no 
idle  hour,  and  so  the  freshness  of  youth  soon  departed 
from  the  face  of  a  bride. 

Mo-nah-se-tah  had  not  been  married  long  enough  to 
fade  and  grow  old  with  manual  labor.  Her  one  matri- 
monial venture  had  not  been  successful.  The  Indian 
women,  like  the  French,  have  their  marriages  arranged 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  93 

for  them  by  the  parents,  as  a  rule.  It  is  true  there 
are  elopements,  and  in  some  tribes  if  a  brave  can  get 
his  sweetheart  away  from  the  village  for  twenty-four 
hours  it  is  equivalent  to  a  marriage  ceremony,  and  op- 
position ceases  when  he  returns.  Most  of  the  unions 
are  wholly  practical,  however.  The  young  warrior  has 
to  show  himself  to  be  worth  so  many  ponies  or  other 
commodities  that  constitute  wealth  with  tlie  red  man. 
He  buys  his  wife,  in  other  words.  The  wife  costs  all 
the  way  from  two  ponies  up.  The  real  road  to  these 
dusky  maidens'  hearts  is  the  reputation  the  lover  bears 
for  deeds  of  valor.  These  are  never  hidden  under  a 
bushel,  for  at  every  war-dance  each  warrior  airs  his 
record  with  entirely  unblushing  egotism.  This  prow- 
ess does  not  count,  however,  with  the  father  in  the 
dickering  for  his  daughter. 

The  daily  intercourse  of  men  and  women  in  an  Ind- 
ian family  is  not  as  free  as  in  ours.  The  first  son-in- 
law,  the  husband  of  the  eldest  daughter,  takes  prece- 
dence after  the  father.  Should  the  latter  die,  all  the 
questions  of  the  family  government  are  decided  by 
this  son-in-law,  and  no  marriage  is  contracted  but  by 
his  consent.  The  laws  prevent  his  speaking  to  his 
mother-in-law,  or  even  remaining  in  the  tepee  with 
her  if  they  are  alone.  A  sister  and  brother  cannot 
speak  together.  The  girls  of  some  tribes  are  so  care- 
fully guarded  that  their  only  opportunity  for  love- 
making  is  perhaps  when  they  go  for  water  to  the 
stream.  The  affection  of  Indians  for  their  babies  is 
a  well-known  trait.     Even  at  a  solemn  council,  when 


94  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

General  Custer  was  discussing  some  subject  with  them, 
the  talking  ceased  when  a  babe  far  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  log-hut,  where  the  band  of  Indians  were  staying 
near  our  post,  began  to  cry.  The  mother,  uneasy  at 
the  interruption  her  child  had  caused,  gave  it  to  the 
squaws  near,  to  pass  it  on  to  the  father,  who  was  out- 
side. The  infant  was  handed  on  till  it  reached  the 
council,  the  old  chiefs  each  took  it,  giving  it  tenderly 
from  one  to  another,  till  the  father  at  the  door  re- 
ceived the  little  one  and  stilled  its  cries.  While  all 
this  went  on  there  was  complete  silence.  General 
Custer  remained  watching  the  scene  quietly,  and  the 
interpreter  observed  the  event  interestedly,  all  the 
Indians  and  squaws  looking  on;  the  council  neither 
spoke  nor  moved  until  the  pappoose  was  quieted. 

Mo-nah-se-tah  found  the  husband  her  father  had 
chosen  a  very  distasteful  one,  and  being,  I  suppose, 
somewhat  spoiled,  owing  to  her  exalted  rank,  she  re- 
fused to  do  all  the  grovelling  labor  expected  of  her, 
and  became  unmanageable.  Neither  threats  nor  warn- 
ings moved  her,  and  when  her  liege  attempted  to  force 
her  to  submission  she  shot  him,  crippling  him  for  life. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  course  open  for  them  but  di- 
vorce, which  is  such  a  simple  affair  among  the  Indians 
that  the  return  of  the  eleven  ponies  by  Little  Rock  to 
the  irate  husband  constituted  a  quitclaim  to  the  pos- 
session of  his  daughter.  The  birth  of  her  baby  after 
her  capture,  her  high  position,  and  the  stories  from  the 
Indian  scouts  of  the  lofty  manner  in  which  she  had 
reminded  her  husband  of  her  superiority  of  birth,  all 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  95 

made  me  anxious  to  see  her ;  and  yet,  when  the  soft 
eyes  smiled  on  me,  I  instantly  remembered  liow  they 
must  have  flashed  in  anger  when  she  suddenly,  and  to 
her  husband's  surprise,  drew  the  pistol  from  under  her 
blanket  and  did  him  the  greatest  injury,  next  to  death, 
that  can  happen  to  an  active  warrior.  How  could  I 
help  feeling  that  with  a  swift  movement  she  would 
produce  a  hidden  weapon,  and  by  stabbing  the  wife, 
hurt  the  white  chief  who  had  captured  her,  in  what 
she  believed  would  be  the  most  cruel  way.  Her  .dis- 
cernment in  taking  from  her  hated  husband  all  that 
makes  life  valuable  to  an  Indian  warrior — that  is,  his 
capacity  to  hunt  or  to  fight — would  perhaps  make  her 
keen  to  discover  equally  effective  means  of  harming 
the  foes  who  had  triumphed  over  lier. 

But  the  baby  disarmed  me.  "A  little  child  shall 
lead  them,"  and  so  it  did  me.  Mo-nah-se-tah,  when 
called,  slid  away  from  the  outer  circle  of  the  crowd 
and  ran  into  a  tent,  dropped  the  ugly  gray  Government 
blanket  and  threw  about  her  a  red  one,  coming  forward 
to  us  shyly,  and  modestly  hanging  her  head.  Her  face 
was  not  pretty  in  repose,  except  with  the  beauty  of 
youth,  whose  dimples  and  curves  and  rounded  out- 
lines are  always  charming.  The  features  of  the  Indian 
women  are  rarely  delicate,  high  cheek-bones  and  square 
jaw  being  the  prevailing  type.  Mo-nah-se-tah  let  the 
blanket  fall  from  her  glossy  hair,  her  white,  even  teeth 
gleamed  as  she  smiled,  and  the  expression  transfigured 
her,  and  made  us  forget  her  features.  I  missed  the 
paint  that  the  beauties  of  the  village  usually  lay  on 


ye  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

with  no  sparing  hand ;  for  even  though  it  is  but  a 
big  blotch  of  color  on  either  cheek,  it  certainly  im- 
proves the  brown  skin.  Of  course  we  asked  for  the 
baby,  feeling  unusual  interest  in  a  captive  born  within 
our  lines.  Mo-nah-se-tah  turned  to  a  bent  old  crone 
who  had  the  honor  to  be  grandmother  to  this  rather 
imperious  granddaughter,  and  authoritatively  ordered 
her  to  bring  the  child.  It  was  a  cunning  little  bundle 
of  brown  velvet,  with  the  same  bright,  bead-like  eyes 
as  the  rest.  The  mother  saw  a  difference,  doubtless. 
She  was  full  of  maternal  pride,  and  ran  into  the  tent 
again  to  bring*  a  ferrotype  of  this  young  chieftain  that 
had  been  taken  by  a  travelling  photographer  who 
stopped  at  the  post.  We  were  amused  and  rather  sur- 
prised at  her  quick  observation,  and  at  the  perplexity 
in  her  face  as  she  asked  with  signs  why  the  pappoose 
was  on  the  left  arm  in  the  picture  while  she  had  held 
it  in  her  right  when  sitting.  It  was  rather  difficult 
for  Geneml  Custer  to  explain  the  photographer's  art 
to  this  woman,  ignorant  of  any  world  outside  the  Ind- 
ian village,  and  I  think  the  mystified  and  superstitious 
look  after  he  finished  meant  that  she  should  continue 
to  think  as  she  did  at  first — that  it  was  the  interven- 
tion of  the  Great  Spirit  which  changes  a  baby  in  its 
mother's  arms  without  her  knowledge.  Though  she 
was  so  proud  and  fond  of  the  little  creature,  she  offered 
it  to  us  to  keep  until  she  should  return  to  her  people. 
I  presume  I  should  have  accepted  this  somewhat  em- 
barrassing gift  (from  sheer  fear  of  the  consequences  I 
dreaded  if  I  declined)  had  not  the  other  head  of  the 


INDIAN   PRISONERS.  97 

house  had  the  tact  to  assure  the  mother  that  we  could 
not  think  of  robbing  her,  however  sincere  her  generos- 
ity might  be. 

Mo-nah-se-tah's  hair  was  braided,  and  this  fearless 
departure  from  the  custom  of  the  Indian  women  was 
due  to  her  admiration  for  the  Irish  woman  to  whom 
reference  has  been  made  as  having  been  a  cook,  and 
the  only  woman  on  the  expedition  during  the  previous 
winter.  Another  departure  from  custom  was  her  ac- 
ceptance of  the  name  our  brother  Tom  gave  her.  He 
gave  up  trying  to  pronounce  the  musical  sobriquet, 
and  took  "  *  Sallie  Ann,'  for  short,"  he  said.  Mo-nah- 
se-tah  had  no  other  feeling  but  pleasure  at  the  ex- 
change, and  she  was  rarely  addressed  by  any  other 
name.  Colonel  Tom  himself  had  been  rechristened 
by  the  Indians,  and  though  Mouksa  sounds  very  well 
to  the  ear,  the  peculiar  intonation  the  officers  gave  it 
betrayed  a  teasing  significance,  which  the  translation 
"  Buffalo  Calf  "  may  explain. 

Mo-nah-se-tah  seemed  to  trust  the  word  of  our  peo- 
ple from  the  first.  She  believed  that  in  time  the  cap- 
tives would  be  released ;  and,  with  this  trust  in  the 
promises  of  those  who  had  won  the  victory  over  her 
people,  she  made  a  most  tractable  captive ;  and  as  she 
was  the  highest  in  authority  among  the  prisoners,  her 
influence  had  weight  with  the  rest  of  her  people. 
7 


XLo  Brms! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COKRAL    OF   THE   CAPTIVES. 

While  we  walked  about  the  corral,  waiting  for  the 
council  for  which  the  women  clamored,  we  saw  the 
three  chiefs  Fat  Bear,  Dull  Knife,  and  Big  Head  being 
prepared  for  the  solemn  powwow.  Thej  were  oiled 
and  combed,  the  occasional  stray  hair  on  their  beardless 
chins  plucked  out  with  tweezers — for  Indians  despise  a 
beard — the  vermilion  laid  on  their  cheeks,  their  gaudy 
beaded  and  embroidered  garments  fitted  and  smoothed 
upon  them,  their  moccasins  and  leggings  fastened,  and 
the  very  pipes  put  into  their  indolent  fingers  by  the 
usual  valets  of  Indian  warriors,  the  servile  squaws. 

The  officers  constantly  made  comparisons,  and  sug- 
gested changes  in  their  domestic  life  in  imitation,  and 
roguishly  affected  to  think  that  while  we,  as  a  people, 
might  be  in  advance  of  the  red  man  in  some  forms  of 
civilization,  we  were  not  so  in  all. 

Among  the  squaws  that  clustered  around  us  was  one 
who  began  a  sign  conversation  with  General  Custer 
about  the  battle  of  the  Washita.  She  walked  away  for 
a  moment,  returning  with  her  two  sons,  striplings  of 


CORRAL   OF  THE   CAPTIVES.  99 

boys,  who,  she  asked  General  Custer  to  tell  us,  had  lost 
their  father  in  the  fight.  The  tears  ran  down  her 
cheeks  as  she  talked  on  with  her  eager  fingers,  and 
though  answering  tears  rose  in  mine,  I  could  not  but 
look  at  the  promise  of  athletic  strength  in  the  children, 
and  wish  with  all  my  soul  tliat  instead  of  these  embryo 
warriors  she  might  have  had  daughters,  wlio  would  nev- 
er be  reared  to  go  to  war.  It  was  strange  how  these 
little  fellows  reproduced  their  fathers  as  soon  as  they 
could  toddle.  "When  any  of  the  hunting  parties  re- 
turned the  prisoners  had  buffalo-meat  served  to  them, 
and  these  tiny  sons  of  braves  cut  strips  from  the  raw 
meat  and  ate  it,  turning  with  wide-eyed  wonder  when 
we  exclaimed  at  this  evidence  of  barbaric  tastes. 

Among  the  tailless  curs  that  scurried  and  skulked  in 
and  out  of  the  tents  there  was  a  yellow  one  which  was 
ill,  and  when  our  brother  Tom  came  a  second  time  he 
asked  where  it  was.  The  squaws  pointed  nonchalant- 
ly to  the  iron  dinner-pot,  where  the  steam  was  rising 
from  the  poor  dog's  dismembered  body,  as  it  was  being 
cooked  for  dinner.  Tom  in  his  quaint  way  bowed  to 
the  old  frights,  and  promptly  declined,  most  urbanely, 
an  invitation  to  dine  that  had  never  been  given,  and 
which  declination  was  of  course  all  gibberish  to  the 
women. 

Among  the  squaws  was  one  who  had  holes  shot 
through  her  blanket  in  the  Washita  battle.  When  we 
visited  the  corral  she  always  held  out  the  blanket  and 
pointed  to  them,  making  a  sound,  "  ping!  ping !"  to  sug- 
gest what  had  occurred  when  the  bullets  went  through. 


100  FOLLOWING   THE   GUmON. 

There  was  another  old  creature  whose  little  finger 
had  been  mutilated,  as  is  the  custom  of  Indians  when 
mourning.  She  had  taken  all  the  flesh  from  it,  and 
then  blackened  the  bone  in  commemoration  of  the  dead. 
The  squaws  sometimes  give  away  all  their  clothes,  as 
one  manner  of  showing  their  grief  at  the  death  of  one 
of  their  family,  and  another  way  of  mourning  is  to  cut 
off  all  their  hair.  Some  of  the  southern  tribes  believe 
that  the  spirits  of  horses  accompany  the  spirit  of  a  dead 
man  to  the  happy  hunting-ground.  In  the  death  of 
Colore w,  leader  of  the  Meeker  massacre,  thirty  or  forty 
horses  were  shot  by  young  braves. 

Finally  the  three  chiefs  were  pronounced  ready,  un- 
der the  hands  of  their  adorners,  and  we  were  signed  to 
enter  the  tent,  where  the  eager  women,  who  had  been 
all  impatience,  quickly  followed.  General  Custer  told 
me  what  an  innovation  it  was  to  allow  me  to  enter,  and 
what  an  honor  the  three  chiefs  considered  they  had  con- 
ferred upon  me  in  shaking  my  hand ;  but  I  could  have 
foregone  the  distinction,  for,  in  the  presence  of  these 
gigantic,  fierce,  and  gloomy  chiefs,  my  quakings  began 
anew,  and  if  the  council  could  have  taken  place  with 
both  of  us  on  the  other  side  of  the  stockade,  looking 
over,  no  matter  how  much  such  a  position  might  have 
lacked  in  dignity,  I  should  have  been  relieved.  I  took 
my  place  on  the  robe  beside  General  Custer,  who  sat 
d  la  Turque^  like  the  Indians.  The  usual  solemn,  silent 
preface  to  all  councils  ensued.  The  restless  impatience 
of  women  and  children,  admitted  on  this  rare  occasion 
to  a  ceremony  from  which  the  chiefs  usually  excluded 


COKBAL   OF   THE   CAPTIVES.  101 

them,  was  exhibited  in  the  eager  eyes,  and  the  nest- 
ling, nervous  moving.  A  squaw  lighted  the  inevitable 
pipe  of  red  clay,  with  its  long  wooden  stem,  at  the  end 
of  which  beads  were  cunningly  interwoven  with  the  del- 
icate, brilliant  feathers  of  rare  birds.  The  oldest  of  the 
chiefs  received  it  first,  took  a  whiff,  then  the  others  fol- 
lowed with  a  prolonged  inhaling  of  the  fragrant  kinni- 
kinnic  and  it  was  passed  to  General  Custer,  who  heroi- 
cally followed  the  example.  Even  in  this  small  coun- 
cil of  four  the  Indian  rules  were  rigidly  observed,  and 
the  seats  were  placed  on  a  line  from  west  to  east,  so  that 
all  should  face  the  south.  The  pipe  is  always  handed 
to  the  one  nearest  the  east,  and  follows  the  course  of  the 
sun,  not  going  back,  but  being  handed  across. 

Having  been  treated  with  so  much  honor  as  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  a  council,  I  inwardly  trembled  for  fear  the 
honors  would  not  stop  there ;  but,  fortunately,  the  pipe 
was  kept  circulating  only  among  the  four.  It  requires 
infinite  patience  to  wait  for  speech  from  these  taciturn 
beings.  To  be  shut  up  in  a  Sibley  tent  with  a  crowd 
of  Indians  on  a  warm  day  was  not  an  experience  that 
one  longed  to  repeat.  Added  to  the  odors  and  close- 
ness, there  was  still  a  fire  in  the  ground,  in  the  centre 
of  the  tent,  where  the  squaws  had  been  preparing  the 
dinner  for  the  conquering  heroes  they  served. 

The  kinni-kinnic  saved  our  nostrils  from  what  would 
have  been  a  still  more  insufferable  infliction.  It  is  a 
mixture  of  willow  bark,  sumach  leaves,  sage  leaf,  and 
tobacco,  and  this  is  thoroughly  mingled  with  marrow 
from  buffalo  bones. 


X02  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

In  vain  I  buried  my  rebellious  nose  in  my  handker- 
chief. I  seemed  hopelessly  permeated  with  the  pecul- 
iar Indian  odor,  but  etiquette  forbade  my  going  into 
the  open  air.  When  the  silent  trio  at  last  signified 
their  willingness  to  talk,  the  squaws  were  reanimated, 
for  the  subject  of  the  conference  was  their  exchange 
and  return  to  their  village.  The  utmost  caution  was 
necessary  not  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  the  chiefs,  and  to 
signify  impatience  or  haste  is,  in  their  estimation,  an 
insult  to  them.  Many  questions  were  put  to  General 
Custer.  The  replies,  from  first  to  last,  were  that  as 
soon  as  every  white  man,  woman,  and  child  was  released 
from  captivity  the  Indian  prisoners  should  be  allowed 
to  return  to  their  homes.  Grunts  of  satisfaction,  fur- 
ther exchanges  of  the  pipe,  more  hand-shaking,  and  we 
escaped  into  the  open  air. 

^  Our  visits  were  quite  frequently  repeated.  Eliza,  our 
colored  cook,  who  was  introduced  in  Tenting  on  the 
Plains^  has  recently  given  me  her  recollections  of  her 
first  visit  with  us  to  the  corral.  "We  took  her  every- 
where that  it  was  possible  to  take  her,  in  order  to  vary 
the  monotony  of  the  life  of  deprivation  she  endured 
for  us,  and  we  were  always  rewarded  by  enthusiastic 
gratitude;  and  her  descriptions,  afterwards  given  to 
the  home  people  in  the  States,  were  more  graphic  than 
any  we  could  furnish.  Here  is  Eliza's  account  of  her 
initiation  into  the  mysteries : 

"  The  ginnel  asked  me  didn't  I  want  to  see  Ingins. 
You  know,  Miss  Libbie,  I  had  never  saw  one  afo'.  I 
went  in  the  big  gate  with  the  ginnel.     You  went  up 


CORRAL   OF   THE   CAPTIVES.  103 

the  steps  where  the  guard  was,  where  you  could  look 
down  on  the  whole  sixty.  Ginnel  told  them  with  his 
fingers  who  I  was,  and  called  me  black  squaw.  Miss 
Libbie,  they  had  never  seen  a  colored  person  afo'. 
They  felt  of  me,  rolled  up  my  sleeve  to  see  if  I  was 
brown  under  my  dress,  they  patted  me  on  the  shoul- 
der. I  went  into  a  tepee,  and  was  looking  at  how 
they  lived,  and  at  a  pappoose  that  was  strapped  to  a 
board  and  lay  in  a  corner  as  quiet  as  a  mouse. 

"  Well,  to  be  cunning,  the  ginnel  slipped  out  when  I 
didn't  notice  it,  and  they  was  making  ready  to  give 
me  a  pipe  to  have  me  smoke  their  tobacco,  for  kind 
of  friendship  like,  among  the  old  squaws.  I  looked 
around  and  found  the  ginnel  gone,  and  I  took  one  leap 
and  lit  out  of  thar  in  a  jiffy.  The  ginnel  was  watch- 
ing and  laughing  at  me,  and  the  squaws,  when  they 
saw  I  was  so  scared,  they  just  shouted.  Well,  I  was 
scared,  and  I  hadn't  got  no  use  for  them  nohow.  They 
clapped  their  hands  and  yelled  to  think  the  black 
squaw  was  so  afraid  of  'em.  Pretty  soon  they  all 
come  right  up  round  the  ginnel  and  began  to  moan 
and  cry,  and  move  their  hands  slowly  together,  and 
make  signs*  to  know  how  long  it  was  before  they 
went  home  to  their  people — how  many  moons — and 

*  Extracts  from  Clark's  Indian  Sign  Language:  —  1.  Moon. 
Conception :  Niglit  sun. — Make  sign  for  Night  (see  2),  and  then 
partially  curve  the  thumb  and  index  of  right  hand,  space  of  about 
an  inch  between  tips,  closing  other  fingers;  then  raise  the  hand  in 
a  direction  a  little  to  south  of  zenith  and  well  up,  the  plane  of  the 
circle  formed  with  index  and  thumb  perpendicular  to  the  line  of 
sight  from  the  eye,  through  the  incomplete  circle  of  thumb  and 


104  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

they  made  a  p*ettj  sign  for  moon.  When  the  ginnel 
made  signs,  '  right  away,'  by  closing  his  pahns,  to  tell 
them  the  time  was  come,  they  rejoiced.  Miss  Libbie,  I 
never  did  see  such  hard  old  women.  They  looked  like 
they  had  been  lashed  with  trouble ;  they  was  bent  and 
wrinkled,  and  carrying  such  loads  I  don't  know  how 
they  did  wag  themselves  along.  This  was  when  they 
was  leaving." 

The  squaws  had  some  small  sense  of  humor.  When, 
on  one  of  our  visits,  an  officer  whom  they  knew  well 
took  his  wife  in  to  see  the  prisoners,  one  of  them  asked 
by  a  sign  if  that  was  his  wife.  He,  being  full  of  fun, 
shook  his  head,  and  placing  two  lingers  in  his  mouth, 
made  the  Indian  sign  for  "  sister."  The  squaw  care- 
fully scrutinized  the  wife's  face,  she  trying  not  to  flinch 
while  the  brown  fingers  passed  over  the  skin  ;  when 

index,  to  the  position  in  the  heavens  where  the  moon  is  supposed 
to  be. 

Some  Indians,  in  making  the  circle  which  represents  the  moon, 
use  the  index  fingers  and  thumbs  of  both  hands. 

I  have  seen  a  half-month  represented  by  forming  a  crescent  with 
thumb  and  index;  and  usually  the  moon  is  represented  as  full, 
gibbous,  half,  and  crescent,  by  indicating  such  and  such  a  portion 
as  dead  or  wiped  out. 

2.  Night.  Conception:  Earth  covered  over. — Bring  extended 
hands,  backs  up,  well  out  in  front  of  body,  fingers  pointing  to  front, 
right  hand  very  little  higher  than  left,  hands  about  height  of  breast 
and  several  inches  apart;  move  the  right  hand  to  left,  left  to  right, 
turning  hands  slightly  by  wrist  action  so  that  fingers  of  right  hand 
point  to  left  and  front,  left  hand  to  right  and  front,  terminating 
movement  when  wrists  are  crossed.  Darkness,  as  I  have  said, 
seems  to  be  considered  a  material  thing  by  Indians ;  it  spreads 
over  the  earth  like  two  huge  blankets.  I  have  also  seen  sign  made 
to  denote  sun  setting  for  night. 


CORRAL   OF  THE   CAPTIVES.  105 

the  examination  was  finished,  the  squaw  made  a  sign 
that  she  knew  the  statement  was  not  true,  and,  as  she 
shook  her  head  decisively,  a  gleam  came  into  her  eyes 
as  if  of  triumph  in  her  keenness  of  perception. 

The  buttons  of  the  lady's  habit,  her  whip,  with  a 
dog's  head  on  the  handle  (at  sight  of  which  the  squaw 
bow-wowed),  and  finally  the  visitor's  curls  were  closely 
examined,  and  great  curiosity  and  surprise  were  evinced 
when  the  hair  was  pulled  straight  and  the  curl  resumed 
its  form  on  being  released. 

After  many  visits  to  the  corral,  which  really  added 
greatly  to  the  interest  of  our  life,  we  came  to  feel  at 
home  with  these  dusky  strangers ;  and  even  the  woman 
who  at  first  would  only  stand  by  the  sentinel  and  look 
down,  because,  as  she  said,  she  chose  to  die  some  other 
death  than  that  by  disembowelling,  summoned  courage 
to  enter  the  tents  and  look  at  the  ever-interesting,  ever- 
new  object  to  a  woman,  the  pappoose.  I  at  last  forgot 
the  knife  that  at  first,  in  my  excited  state,  I  had  almost 
seen  gleaming  in  the  folds  of  the  blanket,  and  we  even 
stood  quietly  while  the  bent  and  odious  old  squaws 
crooned  and  smoothed  our  faces.  The  uniform  kind- 
ness with  which  these  prisoners  had  been  treated  had 
convinced  them  that  the  white  man  meant  to  keep  his 
word.  In  the  councils  that  were  constantly  held.  Gen- 
eral Custer  gave  them  the  news  of  the  negotiations 
that  were  going  on  regarding  the  delivering  up  of  white 
captives  to  our  people,  and  they  knew  that  each  event 
of  that  kind  hastened  their  release. 

One  day  an  orderly  from  the  post  rode  hurriedly  up 


106  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

to  our  tent  in  camp,  and  dismounting,  gave  the  compli- 
ments of  the  commanding  officer  of  the  garrison,  and 
asked  that  General  Custer  should  come  to  the  post  at 
once,  as  the  Indian  prisoners  had  made  trouble,  and  no 
one  could  understand  their  desires  further  than  that 
they  kept  calling  for  "  Ouchess,"  meaning  "  Creeping 
Panther,"  a  name  they  had  given  General  Custer  some 
time  before.  The  two  miles  were  soon  accomplished, 
and  General  Custer  found  a  sorry  state  of  affairs  and 
intense  excitement  prevailing.  The  officers  in  charge 
explained  that  as  constant  rumors  were  circulated  of 
parties  of  hostile  Indians  hovering  around  the  post  and 
the  corral,  with  the  intention  of  rescuing  the  captives, 
and  as  it  was  feared  that  the  three  chiefs  were  preparing 
to  attempt  an  escape,  it  had  been  thought  best  to  re- 
move the  latter  from  their  tent  to  the  guard-house  ad- 
joining. The  sergeant  and  guard  had  gone  to  them, 
but  being  unable  to  make  any  signs  that  the  Indians 
could  understand,  they  had  attempted  to  force  them  to 
go  into  the  prison.  With  the  suspiciousness  natural  to 
the  race,  the  braves  had  resisted  with  all  their  strength. 
All  the  women  and  children,  witnessing  the  encounter, 
surrounded  the  officer,  who  had  joined  the  soldiers  as 
soon  as  trouble  seemed  imminent,  and  while  he  and  the 
sergeant  and  men  were  trying  to  make  their  exit  with 
the  three  chiefs,  a  general  fight  had  taken  place.  The 
chiefs  quickly  drew  from  the  folds  of  their  blankets 
the  knives  they  had  been  allowed  to  eat  with.  These 
had  been  surreptitiously  sharpened  and  polished,  and 
they  flashed  right  and  left  as  the  braves  plunged  to  and 


COEEAL   OF  THE   CAPTIVES.  107 

fro  in  their  struggles.  The  squaws,  similarly  armed, 
threw  themselves  with  wild  fury  upon  the  guard.  An 
old  squaw  singled  out  the  officer  in  charge,  sprang  upon 
him,  and  plunged  her  knife  down  the  back  of  his  neck 
with  unerring  aim.  One  of  the  chiefs  leaped  upon  the 
sergeant  and  stabbed  and  gashed  him  in  so  horrible  a 
manner  that  his  life  was  despaired  of.  The  remainder 
of  the  guard  came  to  the  rescue,  but  not  before  one 
chief.  Big  Head,  had  fallen  dead,  and  another.  Dull 
Knife,  was  mortally  wounded  by  a  bayonet  thrust 
through  the  body.  The  third.  Fat  Bear,  was  felled  by 
the  butt  of  a  musket,  but  was  uninjured.  The  outside 
guard,  by  firing  in,  liad  quelled  the  mutiny  among  the 
women.  When  General  Custer  reached  the  corral  the 
excitement  was  still  intense,  but  he  insisted  upon  en- 
tering the  stockade  alone,  and  talking  with  the  prison- 
ers. The  women  were  running  about,  making  frantic 
gestures,  angrily  and  revengefully  menacing  the  guard 
and  the  sentinel  on  his  beat.  As  soon  as  General  Cus- 
ter appeared  they  closed  around  him,  asking  vehement- 
ly if  they  were  all  to  be  shot.  He  quieted  them  by 
his  decision  of  manner,  and  his  assurances  that  they 
were  now  safe,  and  asked  what  was  the  meaning  of 
their  violent  conduct.  They  told  him  that  they  had 
asked  again  and  again  to  have  him  as  interpreter,  for 
when  the  soldiers  had  come  in  to  take  the  chiefs,  they 
could  neither  understand  nor  be  understood.  They 
had  supposed  that  the  braves  were  being  forced  out  to 
be  hanged,  and  the  special  dread  of  an  Indian  is  to  die 
such  a  death.    General  Custer  had  learned  to  treat  the 


108  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

Indians  with  the  patience  that  children  require,  and 
he  told  them,  in  endeavoring  to  conciliate  and  quiet 
the  still  agitated  women,  what  the  real  intention  of  the 
guard  was,  how  friendly  the  men  had  constantly  been 
up  to  that  time,  and  that  their  brusque  conduct  when 
resisted  was  not  to  be  marvelled  at,  for  that  soldiers 
were  drilled  to  quick,  peremptory  ways.  The  men  had 
no  intention,  he  assured  them,  of  injuring  any  one ; 
they  only  wanted  to  remove  the  three  chiefs  to  the  in- 
side of  the  guard-house,  and  they  could  not  talk  with 
them,  not  having  been  out  on  the  campaign  the  winter 
before. 

This  talk  had  at  once  a  perceptible  effect.  Some  of 
the  older  women  crouched  down  to  croon  and  moan 
over  the  dead,  as  is  their  custom  ;  others  walked  about 
wailing  and  gesticulating  in  the  expressive  manner  of 
the  Indian.  Many  of  them  had  gashed  their  legs  hor- 
ribly, in  commemoration  of  the  dead,  and  their  leg- 
gings constantly  irritated  the  wounds.  One  old  squaw 
had  been  shot  in  the  leg  in  the  melee^  and  another  ex- 
hibited her  blanket  with  bullet-holes  in  it ;  but  there 
was  not  much  pity  felt  among  the  soldiers,  whose  lives 
had  been  imperilled,  for  these  old  viragos,  who  had 
fought  so  furiously. 

General  Custer  went  into  the  cell  where  the  dying 
chief  lay,  and  explained  in  the  same  manner  the  cause 
of  the  misunderstanding  and  disaster.  The  old  warrior 
told  the  general  how  much  they  had  wished,  through 
all  the  imprisonment,  that  they  had  been  confined  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  cavalry  camp,  among  the  soldiers 


CORRAL    OF   THE   CAPTIVES.  109 

who  had  captured  them,  and  who,  during  the  past  win- 
ter, had  learned  to  talk  with  them  by  signs ;  he  com- 
plained that  the  "  Walk-a-heaps,"  as  they  called  the 
infantry,  who  now  had  them  in  keeping,  did  not  under- 
stand them  at  all. 

After  this  unfortunate  affair  there  was  no  more  vis- 
iting the  stockade  on  the  part  of  the  women.  The  very 
hands  that  had  smoothed  our  faces  and  stroked  our 
hair  had  too  skilfully  wielded  the  knives  that  we  had  all 
the  time  suspected  them  of  carrying  under  their  gar- 
ments. They  were  now  more  dissatisfied,  suspicious, 
and  restless  than  ever,  and  when  at  last  the  news  came 
that  the  white  captives  were  released,  and  that  they, 
in  turn,  would  be  sent  back  to  their  tribe,  there  was 
general  rejoicing. 

General  Custer  would  not  let  me  miss  the  departure, 
which  he  went  up  to  arrange.  The  wagons  that  were  to 
♦convey  the  Indians  on  their  way  to  their  village  were 
drawn  up  in  front  of  the  corral  when  we  arrived,  and 
the  company  of  cavalry  which  was  to  accompany  them 
as  escort  stood  at  their  horses'  heads,  awaiting  the 
trumpet-call  "  Boots  and  saddles  !"  It  seemed  incred- 
ible that  people  who  had  come  to  us  with  nothing 
should  depart  with  so  much  luggage.  "All  kinds  of 
truck,"  to  use  the  phrase  with  which  the  Western 
man  designates  a  variety  of  possessions,  was  heaped  in 
the  big  army-wagon  by  the  willing  soldiers,  and  the 
women  and  children  mounted  upon  their  property. 
Every  one  had  given  them  a  present  —  and  nothing 
seemed  to  come  amiss  to  them  —  though  the  donor 


110  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

might  be  puzzled  to  imagine  how  they  would  ever  use 
the  gift. 

Finally,  Nav-a-rouc-ta  walked  out  of  the  gate,  her 
pappoose  on  her  back,  smiling  and  shy,  and  showing 
some  regret  at  departure,  for  she  had  thriven  in  the 
idle  life.  The  soldiers  and  by-standers  called,  ^'  Good- 
bye, Sallie  Ann,"  and  she  turned  from  the  right  to 
the  left  to  receive  the  homage  her  sweet  face  elicited. 
Behind  her,  bent  almost  to  the  ground  with  a  weight 
which  we  could  scarcely  believe  concealed  a  human 
being,  crept  the  old  grandmother,  carrying  Mo-nah- 
se-tah's  accumulated  wealth.  "Sallie  Ann"  came  over 
to  where  we  waited  to  say  a  special  good-bye  to  us, 
and  as  she  raised  her  liquid  eyes  coyly  to  smile  and 
bid  adieu,  I  could  not  realize  that  those  same  orbs 
could  flash  in  anger,  and  the  hand  we  took  grow  rigid 
in  the  madness  of  revenge ;  but  her  maimed  husband, 
now  limping  through  life,  was  a  witness  of  her  capacity* 
for  rage. 

The  old  chief  walked  forth,  too  dignified  to  show 
joy  at  his  release,  but  no  amount  of  impressiveness  of 
manner  could  subdue  the  soldiers  and  ourselves.  Cries 
pealed  out  on  all  sides,  "  Halloa,  Cardigan !"  He  had 
been  relieved  of  his  own  title,  Fat  Bear,  long  before, 
and  named  for  the  Cardigan  jacket  that  had  been 
given  to  him,  and  that  he  evidently  had  never  re- 
moved from  the  day  of  its  presentation  to  the  morn- 
ing of  his  departure.  An  underling  squaw  carried  his 
enormous  pack  as  he  stalked  towards  the  wagon,  she 
struggling  on  in  the  rear. 


COBRAL   OF   THE   CAPTIVES.  Ill 

The  prisoners,  forgetting  for  once  tlieir  stoicism, 
laughed  and  chattered  their  unintelligible  gibberish, 
poking  their  heads  out  of  the  semicircle  that  the  wag- 
on-covers made  at  the  rear,  and  went  off  with  many 
a  hearty  cheer  from  their  captors.  The  sentinel,  re- 
lieved at  the  completion  of  the  unusual  duty,  descend- 
ed from  his  elevated  beat  to  allow  the  stockade  to  be 
demolished,  and  with  it  departed  all  trace  of  the  Ind- 
ian captives,  save  the  circles  made  by  their  tents  in  the 
soil. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


PETS    OF    THE    CAMP. 


My  first  visit  to  our  brother  Tom's  tent,  after  we 
made  camp  on  Big  Creek,  will  not  become  a  dim  mem- 
ory during  my  life,  I  think,  for  I  was  so  thoroughly 
frightened  I  shivered  for  days  afterwards  when  recall- 
ing it.  Of  course,  after  all  our  arrangements  for  the 
summer  were  made,  we  very  naturally  wanted  to  ex- 
hibit our  triumph  over  circumstances,  our  ingenuity 
at  inventing  conveniences,  and  to  elicit  praise  from 
each  other  for  doing  so  much  with  so  little.  Tom  was 
not  so  proud  of  his  tent  as  of  his  captures.  At  that 
time  we  all  had  many  valuable  Indian  trophies — even 
Indian  shields  made  of  the  toughest  part  of  the  buffalo- 
hide,  and  painted  with  warlike  scenes ;  necklaces  of 
the  fore-claws  of  the  bear ;  war-bonnets,  with  the  eagle 
feathers  so  fastened  that  they  stood  out  at  right  angles 
when  worn,  and  extended  from  the  head  to  the  heels ; 
and,  alas  for  my  peace  of  mind,  there  seemed  to  be 
scalp -locks  everywhere!  We  had  a  warrior's  jacket 
trimmed  with  them  as  fringe,  with  soft  yellow  child's 
hair  among  the  rest.     This  was  presented  by  an  Ind- 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP. 


113 


ian,  while  some  of  the  oflScers  were  offered  other  tro- 
phies in  trade. 

There  was  a  captured  scalp -lock,  stretched  over  a 
small  hoop  made  of  a  willow  withe  to  keep  it  from 
shrinking,  and  this  was  hung  to  the  belt  in  an  Indian 
dance,  or  to  the  te- 
pee walls  while  they 
were  not  in  full 
dress.  Our  brother 
Tom  always  had  an 
ample  collection  of 
these  Indian  memen- 
tos, and  it  made  his 
tent  or  quarters  in 
garrison  very  uncan- 
ny, in  my  estima- 
tion. But  if  the 
war  -  bonnet,  shield, 
or  bear- claw  neck- 
lace could  be  bought 
or  traded  for,  or  cap- 
tured in  an  Indian 
fight,  it  was  like  pos- 
sessing one's  self  of 
the  family  diamonds  a  scalp-lock. 

of  an  Indian,  as  these 

three  heirlooms  were  handed  down  as  we  white  peo- 
ple bequeath  jewels,  plate,  or  pictures. 

Colonel  Tom's  next  most  valuable  possession  was  a 
box  of  rattlesnakes.      He  was  an  expert  in  catching 
8 


114  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

tliem.  Being  very  agile  and  extremely  quick,  he  never 
failed  to  bag  his  game.  When  he  discovered  a  snake 
with  seven  or  more  rattles  he  leaped  from  his  horse, 
called  his  orderly  to  take  off  his  coat  and  tie  up  the 
end  of  the  sleeve  and  hold  it  for  the  prisoner.  Then, 
with  a  well-aimed  and  violent  stroke  with  the  butt  of 
the  carbine  he  pinioned  the  reptile  near  the  head,  and 
holding  it  down  with  one  hand,  seized  it  by  the  back 
of  the  neck,  lifted  it  from  the  ground,  dropped  it  into 
the  sleeve,  tied  it  again,  and  swinging  into  the  saddle, 
joined  the  column  as  unconcerned  as  if  the  seven  rat- 
tles were  not  threatening  vengeance  behind  him.  On 
my  first  meeting  with  him  after  a  campaign  he  usually 
said,  "  Well,  old  lady,  I  have  some  beauties  to  show 
you  this  time,  captured  them  on  purpose  for  you," 
and  I  knew  that  my  hour  had  come.  I  never  passed 
for  a  fearless  woman,  and  I  did  not  hesitate  to  beg  off, 
telling  him  I  "  appreciated  the  honor,"  but  would  see 
the  reptiles  "  some  other  day,"  and  resorting  to  any 
subterfuge  to  escape  this  form  of  hospitality.  But  I 
might  as  well  have  argued  with  the  snakes  themselves 
for  all  the  good  I  accomplished.  He  came  after  me, 
and  we  started ;  in  vain  I  dawdled  by  the  way  to  delay 
the  moment  that  was  simply  horrible  to  me ;  his  cheer- 
ful "  Here  we  are  I"  seemed  to  sound  so  soon.  The  in- 
secure cages  were  patched-up  hardtack  boxes,  and  the 
snakes  had  to  be  lifted  out  to  exhibit  them. 

Tom's  bull-dog  was  always  a  terror  to  me,  but  in 
this  new  fright  his  ominous  growls  were  forgotten.  1 
only  begged  before  the  performance  began  to  take  up 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  115 

my  place  on  the  bed — and  oh,  how  I  bemoaned  the  low- 
ness  of  it !  Tlie  agonizing  thought  was  forced  upon 
me  that  at  that  very  moment  a  snake  might  be  lurk- 
ing under  the  low  camp-cot,  or,  worse  still,  wriggling 
under  the  blankets  on  which  my  trembling  toes  then 
rested.  Then,  with  skirts  gathered  about  me  for  a 
sudden  flight,  with  protruding  eyeballs,  I  shook  and 
gasped  as  the  box -lids  were  removed,  and  the  great 
loathsome  objects  stretched  up  to  show  their  length, 
a  chance  being  given  to  each  one  to  shake  his  rattles 
in  rage. 

Words  of  regret  from  Tom  awoke  no  answering 
emotion  in  me  when  ht3  found  himself  minus  one 
snake.  What  was  a  source  of  regret  to  him  was  an 
occasion  of  horror  to  me ;  there  was  not  a  vestige  of 
the  snake  remaining ;  it  had  not  escaped ;  it  was  a  vic- 
tim of  reptile  cannibalism,  for  the  larger  of  the  two 
had  eaten  his  smaller  comrade,  and  not  even  a  rattle 
was  left ! 

After  this  entertainment  was  over,  and  I  was  going 
home,  almost  frisking  with  joy,  over  the  plains  that 
separated  us  from  the  soldiers'  and  officers'  tents,  I 
tried  to  argue  with  Tom  that  he  should  keep  all  of  his 
snakes  together  instead  of  in  separate  boxes ;  and  I  con- 
tended that  this  was  nothing  more  than  a  measure  of 
justice  to  them,  as  they  must  miss  the  sort  of  compan- 
ionship, a  craving  for  which  is  said  to  exist  through- 
out the  animal  kingdom ;  but  he  discovered  my  mo- 
tive, and  replied,  "  If  you  think,  old  lady,  that  after 
all  the  trouble  I  have  been  to,  to  catch  these  snakes  to 


116  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

show  you,  I  am  going  to  make  it  easy  for  them  to  eat 
each  other  up,  you  are  mightily  mistaken."  Some 
English  tourists  were  so  interested  in  Tom's  daring 
mode  of  capture,  and  the  snakes  themselves  were  so 
novel  a  sight  to  them,  that  they  persuaded  him  to  send 
some  specimens  to  the  "Zoo"  in  London;  and  last 
summer  I  saw  one  of  those  who  were  our  guests  at 
that  time  (Dr.  Townsend),  and  he  told  me  that  the 
snakes  were  still  there.  Tom's  orderly  might  appear 
in  this  affair  as  an  object  of  pity,  but  he  was  as  much 
interested  and  as  enthusiastic  in  the  sport  as  his  oflScer, 
and  posed  before  the  soldiers  as  a  snake  -  catcher — a 
position  not  without  honor  among  many  daring  men, 
who  were  willing  to  meet  any  sound  of  war  except  the 
threatening  rattle  of  such  a  foe. 

When  we  were  encamped  on  Big  Creek,  buffaloes 
were  all  about  us ;  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad  had  been 
completed  only  to  Fort  Hays,  and  the  herds  were  still 
roaming  in  immense  numbers  along  the  line.  They 
frequently  crossed  the  track  in  front  of  a  train,  but 
they  were  so  intent  upon  getting  away  that  the  sharp- 
est, most  continued  shrieks  of  the  whistle  did  not  turn 
them  from  their  course ;  the  leaders  in  a  move  are  very 
faithfully  followed  by  the  herd  as  a  rule.  The  en- 
gineer was  often  obliged  to  whistle  down  the  brakes 
to  avoid  accident. 

I  remember  standing  among  a  group  of  officers  at 
one  time,  resting  after  a  charge  into  a  herd.  We  were 
on  a  divide,  where  the  horizon  was  visible  in  every  di- 
rection.    One  of  the  group  said  to  me,  "  Turn  about, 


PETS    OF   THE    CAMP.  117 

Mrs.  Custer,  and  notice  that  you  are  surrounded  with 
buffaloes."  It  was  as  if  the  horizon  was  outlined  with 
a  dark  rim.  The  officer  continued,  "  You  are  looking 
now  upon  a  hundred  thousand  buffaloes."  I  was  ratlier 
incredulous  of  their  stories  when  they  were  told  to  me, 
as  I  had  been  so  often  "  guyed."  I  said :  "  Are  you 
really  in  earnest  ?  And  can  I  tell  this  to  the  people 
in  the  East  when  I  go  home  ?"  "  Honor  bright,"  he 
said ;  "  I  do  not  exaggerate." 

I  have  been  on  a  train  when  the  black,  moving  mass 
of  buffaloes  before  us  looked  as  if  it  stretched  on  down 
to  the  horizon.  Every  one  went  armed  in  those  days, 
and  the  car  windows  and  platforms  bristled  with  rifles 
and  pistols,  much  as  if  it  had  been  a  fortification  de- 
fended by  small-arms  instead  of  cannon. 

It  was  the  greatest  wonder  that  more  people  were 
not  killed,  as  the  wild  rush  for  the  windows,  and  the 
reckless  discharge  of  rifles  and  pistols,  put  every  pas- 
senger's life  in  jeopardy.  Ko  one  interfered  or  made 
a  protest  with  those  travellers,  however.  They  were 
the  class  of  men  who  carry  the  chip  balanced  very 
lightly  on  the  shoulder,  and  rather  seek  than  avoid  its 
jostling.  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  avoid  a  shud- 
der when  a  long  line  of  guns  leaning  on  the  backs  of 
the  seats  met  my  eye  as  I  entered  a  car.  When  the 
sharp  shriek  of  the  whistle  announced  a  herd  of  buffa- 
loes the  rifles  were  snatched,  and  in  the  struggle  to 
twist  round  for  a  good  aim  out  of  the  narrow  window 
the  barrel  or  muzzle  of  the  fire-arm  passed  dangerous- 
ly near  the  ear  of  any  scared  woman  who  had  the  te- 


118  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

merity  to  travel  in  those  tempestuous  days.  Men  are 
pretty  patient  with  women's  tremors  if  they  try  to 
keep  them  in  control,  and  don't  carry  their  slirieks  too 
far;  but  when  the  delay  was  long  enough  to  empty 
the  car  I  felt  intensely  relieved.  Sometimes  the  whole 
train  was  abandoned  for  a  time,  engineer  and  all  going 
out  for  sport.  There  was  no  railroad  competition  then, 
and  only  one  train  a  day  was  run — therefore,  there 
was  no  attempt  to  keep  a  correct  schedule.  We  rarely 
used  the  railroad,  even  if  it  was  near,  when  once  out 
in  camp.  Our  own  mode  of  travel  seemed  preferable. 
In  going  on  hunts  the  officers  w^ere  not  obliged  to 
ride  far  before  coming  upon  herds  of  grazing  buffaloes, 
and  sometimes  the  animals  even  came  in  sight  of  camp. 
Once,  I  remember,  we  were  entertaining  a  distinguished 
Eastern  journalist.  He  wanted  to  return  with  the  rec- 
ord of  a  Nimrod,  but  he  was  too  much  exhausted  from 
overwork  to  attempt  riding,  and  he  said,  with  regret, 
that  he  feared  he  would  be  obliged  to  go  back  without 
seeing  a  buffalo,  and  be  unmercifully  teased  by  his 
friends  in  the  States  into  the  bargain.  Still  he  could 
not  endure  to  lose  for  an  hour  the  heaven  of  calm  that 
his  tired  head  enjoyed  under  the  shade  of  our  tarpau- 
lin, where  we  begged  him  to  lounge  all  day.  Of  course 
his  enforced  quiet  was  a  boon  to  us.  We  plied  him 
with  questions  as  to  Eastern  progress,  for,  reading  of 
new  inventions  put  into  use  since  we  had  come  West, 
w^e  could  not  quite  understand  from  the  newspaper  ac- 
counts their  practical  application.  I  well  remember 
how  glad  I  was  out  there,  when  the  first  Elevated  Koad 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  119 

was  built  in  IS'ew  York,  to  have  it  carefully  explained 
to  me ;  for  the  papers,  after  all,  take  it  for  granted 
that  every  one  lives  in  the  heart  of  civilization.  As 
our  guest  lounged  under  the  shade  one  day  we  heard 
a  shout  near,  the  dogs  rushed  barking  to  the  stream, 
the  men  ran  at  breakneck  speed  in  the  same  direction, 
and  one  of  our  own  people  called  back,  "  Buffaloes  !" 
Here  was  a  chance,  for,  when  this  Mohammed  could 
not  go  to  the  mountain,  it  bore  down  on  him.  The 
stream  was  then  low,  so  that  with  help  we  could  go 
over  on  logs  and  stepping-stones ;  and,  standing  on  the 
other  bank,  we  saw  a  splendid  chase.  The  officers,  al- 
ways ready  to  do  what  they  could  to  entertain  stran- 
gers, had  driven  the  herd  as  near  our  tent  as  possible, 
and  the  buffalo  singled  out  to  be  killed  was  shot  so 
near  us  that  we  all  saw  it. 

The  air  of  Kansas  was  so  pure  that  we  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  keeping  meat ;  but  our  trial  was  the  rapacity 
of  the  dogs.  They  always  seemed  to  be  caverns,  and  at 
no  hour  could  we  eat  without  being  surrounded  by  a 
collection  of  canines  of  all  ages,  which  turned  up  their 
large  appealing  eyes  to  us,  contesting  in  this  pathetic 
manner  every  mouthful  we  took.  In  order  to  save  the 
buffalo-meat  from  their  tremendous  leaps,  as  they  were 
great  thieves,  it  had  to  be  strung  far  up  in  a  tree,  and 
let  down  by  ropes  when  the  meat  for  dinner  was  to  be 
cut  off.  By  violent  "  shooing,"  scolding,  and  throwing 
of  sticks  at  the  waiting  dogs,  Eliza  cut  what  was  need- 
ed, and  swung  the  rest  back  to  its  safe  height.  We 
had  then  a  pet  wolf,  or  rather  one  that  we  would  have 


120  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

liked  to  pet ;  but  the  wolf  is  not  an  easy  animal  to 
tame.  One  of  the  soldiers,  who  was  so  devoted  to 
General  Custer  that  he  would  have  lain  down  with  a 
lion  for  his  sake,  kept  the  animal  in  his  tent,  and  the 
chain  allowed  it  to  walk  up  and  down,  but,  to  my  great 
relief,  did  not  admit  of  a  prowl  of  any  considerable 
length. 

The  whole  camp  seemed  like  an  animated  "  zoo,"  and 
each  soldier  or  officer  who  owned  a  prized  treasure 
boasted  that  his  was  superior  to  all  others.  There  were 
besides  wolves,  prairie-dogs,  raccoons,  porcupines,  wild- 
cats, badgers,  young  antelopes,  buffalo-calves,  and  any 
number  of  mongrel  dogs.  Our  wolf  Dixie,  being  near 
the  creek,  could  send  his  lonely  cries  at  night  over  the 
still  prairie  on  the  farther  side ;  and  these  appealing 
howls  were  often  answered  by  other  wolves,  which  we 
frequently  saw  in  the  moonlight,  skulking  along  the 
bank  on  the  opposite  side. 

By  this  time  Eliza  had  been  provided  with  a  few 
chickens,  which  were  the  pride  of  her  life;  and  it  would 
be  hard  to  give  the  reader  a  conception  of  how  strange 
their  domestic  cackle  seemed  in  that  wilderness.  Eliza's 
antipathy  to  the  wolf  was  made  a  permanent  memory, 
because  her  much-loved  poultry  suffered  from  his  pres- 
ence. Here  is  a  report  of  one  of  her  reminiscences 
touching  the  wolf  and  the  other  animals  of  the  camp  : 
"You  know,  Miss  Libbie,  our  wolf  Dixie.  Well,  I 
had  to  gain  the  good-will  of  him  before  I  got  up  to 
him,  or  he  would  bite  me  sure  if  I  didn't.  He  did 
bite  me  once,  and  I  learned  something  from  that.    One 


Vw^^ 


-x:<J^  -^ 


WARRIOR  IN   WAR-BONNET. 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  121 

day  I  fleered  my  chickies  a-squalling  and  a-cackling  at 
a  great  rate,  and  all  of  'em  up  a  tree.  I  cast  my  eyes 
at  Dixie's  house  and  lie  was  gone !  Miss  Libbie,  ho 
had  broken  his  chain,  climbed  up  on  some  logs  and 
into  that  tree,  and  was  a-laying  out  on  a  limb  as  nice 
as  ever  you  see  anything  in  your  life,  watching  chick- 
ens, and  trying  to  get  his  chance  to  leap  and  catch  one. 
I  took  hold  of  his  chain  and  yanked  him  down,  and 
Dixie  was  *  mad  with  me  for  two.*  He  used  to  chaw 
up  the  table-cloths  and  gnaw  the  sheets  if  we  left  'em 
anywhere  near  him,  and  he  was  a  terror,  and  I  never 
could  see  why  the  ginnel  would  keep  him.  But,  Miss 
Libbie,  he  wa'n't  a  showin'  to  that  'coon  we  had  for 
long-headed  mischief.  He'd  drag  everything  he  could 
to  the  tin  wash-basin,  and  fumble  everything  in  the 
water,  and  all  I  could  do  the  ginnel  would  just  lie  there 
and  laugh  at  him.  One  day  he  got  the  ginnel's  money 
out  of  his  pocket-book,  and  rolled  it  into  little  wads.  I 
ketched  him,  and  I  says,  *  Ginnel,  if  you  don't  kill  him 
I  will  f  but,  lor'.  Miss  Libbie,  one  of  them  pets  was  as 
precious  as  if  it  had  been  a  gold-mine.  Do  you  mind 
that  time  the  'coon  nearly  got  killed,  the  time  we  just 
had  an  old  colored  man  as  waiter  come  to  us?  The 
'coon  got  loose  and  mounted  up  on  the  tent,  and  the 
old  man  hadn't  no  notion  it  was  a  pet,  and  he  licked 
and  cut  around  there,  and  was  a-pounding  the  'coon, 
when  the  ginnel  came  out.  Lord  sakes.  Miss  Libbie  ! 
the  old  man  cut  and  run  the  first  word  the  ginnel  said. 
He  just  hollered  to  him  like  as  though  he  was  going  to 
leap  through  him,  just  to  scare  him,  for  fun,  you  know. 


122  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

The  old  man  just  sprung  to  his  feet  like  he  was  a 
young  sparrow,  and  run  back  to  him,  for  he  liked  him. 
Ginnel  says, '  What  are  you  doing  V  '  Killing  a  'coon, 
sah,'  says  the  old  man,  and  then  he  found  out  that  all 
'coons  didn't  belong  to  the  colored  folks.  '  Well,'  he 
says,  '  if  you  haven't  got  anything  to  do  but  kill  my 
'coon,  come  in  and  wash  my  collars,'  and  then  the  old 
man  primped  up  his  mouth  and  went  at  it.  Miss  Lib- 
bie,  I  watched  his  face,  and  as  they  cum  to  pieces  he 
prepared  to  cut  again,  for  he  had  never  seed  paper  col- 
lars. Some  one  had  given  the  ginnel  a  box,  thinkin' 
they  would  come  handy  on  the  march  ;  but  when  they 
cum  to  pieces  he  just  roared  and  shouted,  and  the  old 
man  found  out,  after  all,  that  'twasn't  his  fault  that  the 
collars  didn't  stay  together." 

Our  tents  were  usually  a  menagerie  of  pets :  the  sol- 
diers, knowing  General  Custer's  love  for  them,  brought 
him  everything  that  they  could  capture.  The  wolf  was 
the  only  one  of  the  collection  to  which  I  objected.  I 
was  afraid  of  him,  and,  besides,  he  kept  ns,  with  his 
nightly  howls,  surrounded  by  his  fellow -vagrants  of 
the  plains.  Our  own  tent  opened  on  the  little  plat- 
form at  the  rear,  and,  giving  as  it  did  a  draught 
through  to  the  front,  made  us  comfortable  during  the 
warmest  night.  The  dogs,  of  course,  ran  in  and  out  at 
will ;  no  one  ever  thought  of  repressing  them.  The 
best  we  had  was  not  considered  good  enough  for  them. 
We  knew  them  to  be  faithful  and  affectionate,  and  we 
kept  them  about  us  almost  constantly.  We  knew  their 
step,  even,  and  could  distinguish  ours  from  the  others 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  123 

in  the  camp.  One  night  I  was  awakened  by  the  pecul- 
iar tread  of  some  animal,  and  woke  General  Custer. 
He  said  it  was  a  large  dun-colored  dog  from  camp  that 
was  roaming  coollj  from  the  fly  to  the  platform ;  but  to 
make  quite  sure  he  rose  to  investigate,  and  came  back 
to  take  his  pistol.  This  alarmed  me,  but  he  soon  re- 
turned and  said  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  seen  of 
the  intruder,  and  I  went  to  sleep.  Next  morning  I 
was  told  that  our  uninvited  guest  was  a  large  wolf; 
but,  thinking  that  if  I  knew  it,  it  would  effectually 
end  sleep.  General  Custer  had  reserved  the  informa- 
tion till  day. 

Harrison,  the  soldier  who  so  adored  his  general  that 
he  gladly  kept  tlie  wolf  near  him,  was  a  little  discour- 
aged one  morning,  and  we  learned  through  Eliza,  who 
was  rewarding  him  with  hot  biscuit  for  perils  passed, 
that,  awaking  in  the  moonlight,  he  had  found  a  wolfs 
head  just  inside  of  his  tent,  and  he  "reckoned  if  he 
kept  Dixie  much  longer  the  hull  tarnal  lot  of  varmints 
would  think  they'd  got  to  visit  him." 

It  was  the  only  time  I  knew  myself  to  be  in  such 
proximity  to  wolves ;  but  the  calls  of  the  pet  animal, 
added  to  the  temptation  offered  by  the  odor  of  the 
fresh  meat  hanging  in  the  tree,  made  it  more  than  pos- 
sible that  these  ugly  brutes  wandered  around  our  tents 
night  after  night.  Our  dogs  were  often  off  on  a  pred- 
atory excursion  of  their  own,  and  thus  left  the  way 
open  for  the  strangers. 

A  camp  is  a  very  still  place  at  night.  Military  rule 
is  so  rigid  that  a  soldier  is  not  permitted  to  leave  his 


124  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

tent  after  taps  without  special  permission.  Of  course 
there  is  always  a  daring  set  of  men  who  do  go  to  the 
nearest  town ;  but  tliey  learn  to  skulk  in  shadows,  and 
creep  off  so  silently  that  the  sentinel  on  his  beat,  no 
matter  how  vigilant,  can  be  easily  evaded.  In  one  of 
the  tents  within  call — that  is  to  say,  a  loud  call — of 
ours,  we  had  a  dear  friend  who  was  very  plucky.  She 
could  fire  a  revolver,  and  as  the  officers  added,  "hit 
something,  too,"  which  was  so  significantly  said  that 
the  dullest  of  us  drew  the  conclusion  that  they  thought 
it  an  impossibility  for  the  rest  of  us  ever  to  have  an 
accurate  aim.  These  tents,  like  ours,  were  near  the 
stream,  and  domestic  life  went  on  there  as  happily  as  if 
the  tent  had  been  a  palace.  These  friends  were  affec- 
tionately called  the  "  Smithies";  that  is,  the  husband  was 
called  "  Fresh  "  Smith,  to  distinguish  him  from  the  sea 
captain  in  our  regiment,  who  was  "  Salt "  Smith,  and 
the  wife  was  Mrs.  Smithy.  Sometimes  the  head  of  the 
house  answered  if  called  "  Pilgrim,"  which  appellation, 
traced  out,  was  found  to  have  reference  to  the  gray 
clothes  he  wore  when  he  reported  for  duty,  and  also 
to  be  connected  with  some  discordant  notes  he  insisted 
upon  singing,  which,  after  much  trouble,  his  jocular 
companions  discovered  to  be  an  attempt  at  the  hymn, 
"  I'm  a  pilgrim  and  I'm  a  stranger."  He  was  either 
musically  unequal  to  the  task,  or  he  never  was  allowed 
to  finish  the  "  Do  not  detain  me."  It  was  an  altogether 
unnecessary  request,  for  no  one  thought  of  detaining 
him  if  he  attempted  to  sing. 

When  he  reported  for  duty  in  camp,  before  Mrs. 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  125 

Smith  joined  him,  he  was  met  by  our  brother  Tom, 
who  was  cordial  and  hospitable,  as  was  his  wont,  urg- 
ing the  new-comer  to  go  to  his  tent  until  his  own  was 
pitched,  and  help  himself  to  anything  that  was  needed. 
Tom,  being  on  duty,  could  do  no  more  than  point  out 
the  way.  Captain  Smith  was  a  brave  soldier,  as  his 
disabled  shoulder  proved.  After  the  war  he  had  re* 
ceived  an  appointment  in  the  regular  army  as  reward 
for  his  services,  and  this  was  his  first  appearance  on  the 
plains. 

The  captain  did  not  feel  wholly  at  ease  as  he  ap- 
proached Colonel  Tom's  tent.  A  wolf  was  chained  at 
the  entrance,  growling  and  walking  his  restless  beat,  as 
is  the  custom  of  that  animal.  He  knew  that  it  was  re- 
garded as  a  pet,  but  a  wolf  is  a  wolf,  and  do  what  you 
will,  the  familiar  prowling  gait  of  the  jackal  or  panther 
is  kept  night  and  day,  and  the  vicious  eye  roams  from 
side  to  side  in  search  of  game  upon  which  the  beast 
can  make  his  cowardly  spring.  Thinking  of  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  and  the  approach  to  the  castle,  the  young 
stranger  accomplished  the  entrance  successfully,  ex- 
pecting momentarily  that  the  wolf  would  set  his  teeth 
in  his  unprotected  calves,  only  to  be  met  with  threat- 
ening growls  from  under  the  bed.  The  red  eyes  of 
Brandy,  the  greatest  fighting  dog  of  the  regiment, 
glared  at  him,  and  a  whole  -set  of  molars  was  lavishly 
exhibited.  While  the  stranger  stood  irresolute  in  the 
centre  of  the  small  tent,  the  snakes  in  the  boxes  set  up  a 
rattling  that  was  not  to  be  mistaken  for  anything  else. 
When  Tom  came  hurrying  in  from  drill,  some  time 


126  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

after,  his  guest  was  prepared  for  a  roar  of  merriment 
at  what  he  supposed  was  intended  as  a  joke ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  Tom  having  been  accustomed  to  strange 
room-mates,  it  had  really  not  occurred  to  him  that 
there  is  always  a  first  time  for  every  one,  and  so 
"  Smithy  "  had  passed  alone  through  a  part  of  his  ini- 
tiation. 

Smithy  was  compelled  to  wait  a  short  time  for  his 
own  tent,  and  Tom  entertained  him  with  an  exhibition 
of  his  snakes,  and  stories  of  the  prowess  of  his  dog.  In 
one  of  the  contests  illustrating  Brandy's  tenacity  of 
grip  our  bull-dog — Turk — had  figured.  So  savage  had 
the  dogs  become  that  no  ordinary  means  could  separate 
them.  At  last  an  officer  knelt  down  and  bit  one  of 
Brandy's  toes  with  all  his  might,  but  he  did  not  relax 
his  grip  in  the  least ;  then  Colonel  Tom  seized  a  car- 
bine, thrust  it  into  the  dog's  collar,  twisted  it  till  Bran- 
dy gurgled  and  choked,  and  was  compelled  to  drop 
"  the  under  dog  in  the  fight."  After  that,  if  Tom  was 
separated  from  us,  he  would  write,  "  Brandy  sends  his 
love  to  Turk, '  his  dearest  foe ;' "  and  when  he  came  back 
it  became  the  study  of  every  one  to  see  that  these  im- 
placable enemies  should  not  meet.  When  Brandy's 
record  had  been  aired  to  Captain  Smith,  the  history  of 
the  snakes  was  narrated,  and  the  wolf  also  had  special 
attention ;  but  the  pitching  of  his  tent  gave  the  new 
officer  an  opportunity  to  regain  the  equilibrium  that 
had  been  so  disturbed  on  his  entrance  into  the  new 
life. 

The  Smiths  themselves  soon  gathered  a  little  collec- 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  127 

tion  of  pets  about  them,  and  even  a  stupid  little  prairie- 
dog  was  partially  tamed  by  their  care.  They  had  in 
time  a  bnffalo-calf,  which  soon  grew  to  be  as  much  at 
home  as  if  it  had  been  a  descendant  of  domesticated 
animals.  Sometimes  the  soldier  who  cooked  for  them 
thouffht  the  calf  altoorether  too  familiar  when  he  came 
galloping  down  to  the  cook- tent,  knocking  the  camp- 
kettles  about,  butting  at  everything  (the  cook  included) 
in  the  desire  to  exhibit  a  pair  of  growing  horns. 

The  calf  knew  and  was  accustomed  to  officers  and 
their  uniforms,  but  one  day  one  of  them  appeared  in  a 
spotless  suit  of  white  duck.  It  was  warm,  and  the  cool 
clothes  were  very  aggravating  to  those  who  had  none 
and  were  clad  in  woollen.  The  guest  stroked  the  calf, 
petted  and  played  with  the  apparently  innocent  animal, 
not  noticing  that  the  bushy  little  head  dropped  lower 
and  lower.  The  spectators  knew  this  ominous  sign,  but 
said  nothing,  trying  even  to  hide  the  gleam  in  their 
eyes.  In  a  flash  the  owner  of  the  hated  white  duck 
was  picking  himself  up  from  a  neighboring  mud-pud- 
dle, while  the  apparently  innocent  calf  went  on  graz- 
ing as  if  he  had  not  so  much  as  thought  of  experiment- 
ing with  his  embryo  horns. 

There  were  animals  that  were  not  sought  as  pets, 
and  naturally  the  "  prairie  dandy  "  was  one.  We  were 
made  aware  that  these  animals  were  around  us,  for  the 
dogs,  in  their  zeal  for  game,  made  no  distinction.  After 
a  successful  chase  of  the  polecat  by  themselves,  they 
came  bounding  back  to  us  in  a  most  triumphant  man- 
ner, sure  of  a  welcome,  and  prepared  to  get  on  the  bed, 


128  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

under  it,  in  the  camp-chairs,  on  my  lap,  anywhere  they 
could  be  sure  was  the  best  and  easiest  place.  Their 
look  was  full  of  surprise  and  reproach  when  all  their 
friends  started  hurriedly  to  their  feet,  seized  sticks, 
chairs,  anything  to  hurl  at  them,  shouting  wildly,  "  Get 
out !  get  out,  you  brutes !"  while  only  that  morning  we 
had  exhausted  the  vocabulary  and  coined  words  to  tell 
them  what  darlings  they  were.  Of  course,  followed  by 
every  available  missile,  they  beat  a  retreat,  but  not  for 
any  great  distance.  Perfectly  unconscious  why  they 
were  not  as  acceptable  at  night  as  in  the  morning, 
they  sat  in  a  grieving  semicircle  some  distance  out  in 
front  of  the  tent,  and  reproved  us  by  pitiful  inquiring 
whines,  by  short  interrogatory  barks,  by  wagging  tails 
and  sinuous  bodies,  trying  by  their  expressive  motions 
to  argue  us  out  of  our  hard-heartedness. 

There  was  another  enemy  that  we  did  not  cultivate 
living  along  the  stream.  We  had  a  little  cellar  that 
the  soldiers  had  dug  in  the  side  bank,  making  a  roof 
of  logs,  and  covering  all  with  earth ;  a  rude  door  was 
cobbled  out  of  drift-wood  planks — for  if  you  wait  long 
enough  on  a  Kansas  stream  you  can  almost  count  on 
any  houses,  fences,  or  household  utensils  you  need  being 
washed  down  to  you,  if  there  are  any  settlements  above, 
so  violent  are  the  freshets.  This  cellar,  being  the  first 
we  had  ever  had,  was  a  great  possession  to  us,  and  we 
proceeded  to  get  supplies  from  the  commissary  in  some 
quantities,  instead  of,  as  usual,  sending  daily  for  enough 
to  last  twenty-four  hours.  The  cellar  was  pronounced 
a  grand  success  until  it  began  to  empty  with  such  ra- 


PETS   OF   THE   CAMP.  129 

pidity  that  we  mildly  asked  Eliza  if  we  had  not  better 
order  the  whole  Commissary  Department  down  at  once. 
We  even  lost  some  supplies  for  which  we  had  been  ex- 
travagant enough  to  send  to  St.  Louis. 

Eliza  says :  "  I  used  to  hear  a  crawling  near  my  tent. 
There  was  an  old  fallen  tree  near,  and  the  creeping 
and  crawling  and  sneaking  'peared  to  be  right  there. 
I  thought  it  was  a  snake.  I  just  kept  missing  my  things 
out  of  the  cellar  right  along.  I  was  afraid  to  report 
it,  'cause  I  was  afraid  it  was  somebody  stealing.  Final- 
ly I  told  the  ginnel  my  potatoes  was  agoing  so  fast  I 
didn't  know  what  was  the  cause  of  it.  You  know, 
Miss  Libbie,  he  was  always  a-teasing  me,  'cause,  he  said, 
I  fed  so  many ;  so  he  says : '  I  know  the  cause  of  it.  Just 
as  like  as  not  there's  an  orphan  asylum  started  again 
near  my  tent.'  Next  morning  I  had  everything  ready 
to  cook  breakfast,  and  was  running  up  the  hill  to  wake 
you  and  the  ginnel.  As  I  was  a-passing  that  old  hollow 
tree  I  saw  the  biggest  rat  I  ever  did  see,  a-looking  at 
me  as  sassy  as  ever  you  saw  anything.  "Well,  I  didn't 
think  it  was  a  rat.  I  ran  on  to  the  tent  and  said,  *  Gin- 
nel, get  right  up  and  see  the  biggest  rat  you  ever  did 
see.'  He  says,  *  Eat !  where  ?  who  ever  heard  tell  of  rats 
in  the  timber  V  But  he  jumped  up  and  dressed,  and 
come  down.  Oh,  my  sakes.  Miss  Libbie !  thar  the  rat 
lay,  with  his  paws  sticking  out,  ready  to  run  out  of  the 
tree  again.  Well,  he  had  carried  out  a  load  that  night, 
but  he  had  lugged  out  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  got  stuck 
on  that,  for  he  couldn't  tug  it  into  his  den.  The  offi- 
cers all  come  up,  and  every  one  had  a  shoot  at  it,  but 
9 


130  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

the  rat  ran  in,  and  they  had  to  split  open  the  tree  be- 
fore they  conld  get  at  him.  Everything  *  got  together 
to  have  a  look  at  him  after  he  was  killed,  for  he  was  a 
foot  and  a  half  long.  He  had  in  that  old  tree  two 
buckets  of  potatoes,  two  candles,  and  a  box  of  matches 
(the  ginnel  said  he  was  fixing  to  get  supper),  a  package 
of  chocolate,  beans,  and  lots  of  other  things,  as  he  was 
laying  by  stores  for  winter." 

It  was  not  pleasant  to  feel  that  we  had  such  loath- 
some neighbors,  but  after  I  saw  the  rat  I  never  felt 
sure  that  one  like  it  would  not  dart  through  the  tent, 
and  every  strange  sound  was  attributed  to  them.  But 
no  such  daring  trespasser  was  found  again  on  our  door- 
step almost — that  is  to  say,  what  would  have  been  a 
door-step  if  we  had  possessed  a  door. 


*  Eliza's  expression  "everything"  meant  everything  human  in 
camp— officers,  soldiers,  quartermasters,  quartermaster's  employes, 
and  servants. 


stable  Call. 


i 


8— *- 


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M— 


:^M^-^-« 


i 


Come  off   to  the  sta  - 

^       P     P     P     ^     P 

ble 

AU 

ye     who  are    a  -   ble,   And 

'  u 

■■     F      r    ,^    r    r    r 

^ 

s     ■ 

L_'         ■  1                   ■-] 

-^W 

— h— 

-#- 

~^ — « 

^-H^-J-^J 

\'  1/ 

— I**— 

~17~ 

%) 

give. 


yonr    hors  -  es    some     oats     and       some    corn ; 


3:l.#_#_*_? 


-N — ^- 


iz^-^-^z.t=.^ 


For       if  you  don't  do  it       Your    col 


1^ 


onel      will  know  it, 


:^_#_*_#_ii: 


:l:J=^z:i:J=|:Jiiti: 


And    then  you  will  rue  it        As       sure 


you're  bom. 


CHAPTER  X. 


A   SLOW   MULE-RACE. 


The  dislike  I  always  had  for  horse-racing  was  some- 
what abated  when  I  learned,  after  my  marriage,  how 
different  an  affair  it  is  when  conducted  by  gentlemen. 
There  were  none  of  the  usual  obnoxious  features  of  a 
course.  The  officers  rode  their  own  horses ;  there  was 
no  pool-selling ;  all  the  sport  was  within  the  Govern- 
ment reservation,  or  near  camp,  where  no  rough  char- 
acters were  admitted.  We  women  were  always  expect- 
ed to  be  present,  and  the  rest  of  the  spectators  were  the 
soldiers,  who  rejoiced  in  an  opportunity  to  vary  their 
dull  lives,  and  though  deprived  of  the  privilege  of 
backing  their  captains  or  lieutenants  with  money,  they 


132  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

made  up  with  boasts  and  applause.  The  officers,  kept 
down  to  a  light  weight  by  their  active  life,  and  learn- 
ing to  a  nicety  how  to  sit  on  their  horses  so  as  to  favor 
them  as  to  weight,  often  got  as  much  out  of  them  as  a 
jockey  could  have  done.  We  women  felt  that  we  would 
gladly  sacrifice  the  few  seconds  of  time  that  a  lighter 
weight  might  make,  to  be  permitted  to  look  upon  the 
easy  grace  and  fine  physique  of  a  gentleman  as  rider 
instead  of  the  wizened  little  monkey  that  the  profes- 
sional jockey  seems  when  mounted. 

The  Seventh  Cavalry  spent  several  winters  at  Fort 
Leavenworth,  where  there  were  comfortable  quarters, 
and  the  city,  a  few  miles  distant,  offei  ad  a  great  variety 
of  privileges  to  men  who  were  most  of  the  year  in  the 
field.  There  was  a  track  on  the  reservation,  where  our 
horses  were  timed,  and  many  happy  hours  were  spent 
glorying  in  the  speed,  the  beauty,  .the  endurance  of  the 
animals  we  owned.  The  track  was  on  the  side  farthest 
from  the  town,  and  perfectly  retired.  There  was  a 
little  stand  for  the  group  of  ladies  who  accompanied 
.their  husbands  or  their  lovers,  for  there  was  much 
sweethearting  at  that  delightful  post,  and  the  joyous 
cavalcade  riding  over  the  pretty  road  to  the  track  made 
music  with  their  voices  and  happy  laughter. 

We  had  at  one  time  sixteen  horses  ridden  by  their 
owners  at  a  hurdle-race,  which  was  arranged  only  for 
ourselves.  The  prizes  were  gold  spurs  and  a  silver- 
mounted  riding -whip.  If  our  officers  were  not  all 
handsome,  one  was  deceived  into  thinking  they  were, 
for  the  brilliant  eyes,  the  glow  of  health,  the  proud 


A   SLOW  MULE-EACE,  133 

carriage  of  the  head,  which  is  a  soldier's  characteristic, 
and,  above  all,  the  symmetry  of  their  well-developed 
figures,  gave  one  the  impression  that  there  was  little 
to  be  desired  in  the  general  make-up  of  the  men. 
These  gentlemen  riders  were  in  gay  jockey  costumes, 
and  the  bright  colors  were  reflected  by  knots  of  rib- 
bon, or  the  scarfs  about  the  pretty  throats  of  the  ad- 
miring women  who  looked  on.  The  track  was  lined 
for  some  distance  with  the  blue  blouses  of  the  excited 
soldiers,  who  were  allowed  to  come  en  masse.  It  was 
decidedly  a  home-party,  but  none  the  less  enthusiastic 
on  that  account. 

The  first  hurdle  was  taken  almost  simultaneously  by 
the  sixteen  riders,  and  as  they  vaulted  into  air  rider 
and  horse  exhibited  alike  the  greatest  joy,  and  scarce- 
ly seemed  to  touch  the  earth  before  they  shot  off  for 
another  hurdle.  All  that  wretched  feeling  of  anxiety 
one  experiences  in  looking  on  the  set  features  and 
wild-eyed  frenzy  of  the  professional  jockey,  and  on 
the  absorbed,  strained  gaze  of  the  by-standers  when 
large  suras  are  at  stake  on  a  regular  race-course,  was 
left  out  of  our  races.  When  money  comes  in,  it  is,  to 
say  the  least,  a  disturbing  element,  and  real  sport  can 
be  had  where  gain  is  not  in  question.  The  familiar 
phrase  which  describes  horse  and  rider  as  one  is  most 
perfectly  justified  when  officers  and  soldiers  ride  thus 
in  friendly  rivalry.  They  not  only  sit  the  horse  as  if 
they  really  were  centaurs,  but  the  sympathy  that  ex- 
ists between  the  animal  and  his  master,  after  years  of 
daily  association,  becomes  almost  human. 


134  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

The  oflScers  spoke  of  the  humor  their  horses  were  in 
as  married  people  refer  to  the  peculiar  state  of  mind 
the  circumstances  or  the  day  produces.  For  instance, 
riding  beside  us,  they  said :  "  I  don't  find  Lulie  or 
Peggy  "  (or  whatever  the  name  happened  to  be),  "  in 
first-rate  humor  this  morning.  I  shall  leave  her  to 
herself  a  while  till  she  gets  over  her  sulks ;"  or  another 
would  ask  permission  to  leave  the  ranks,  and  the  rest, 

looking  after  him,  would  say :  "  There  goes  to 

fight  it  out  with  his  stubborn  old  brute  of  a  Nero ;" 
and  after  a  while  the  subdued  horse,  carrying  his  tri- 
umphant master,  returned  to  his  place.  Some  one  else, 
perhaps,  observed  :  "  My  horse  is  teasing  for  a  run, 
and  bother  it  all,  here  we  are,  sandwiched  in  between 
the  old  jog-trotters  at  four  miles  an  hour !" 

Of  course,  when  our  men  came  to  put  their  horses 
to  their  mettle,  as  in  a  race,  they  knew  how  to  get  their 
best  out  of  them.  They  leaned  forward,  to  throw  their 
weight  from  the  back  as  much  as  possible,  and  with 
their  faces  down  almost  on  their  horses'  necks,  they 
knew  pet  phrases  and  encouraging  words  that  were 
secrets  between  master  and  beast,  having  been  learned 
on  many  a  lonely  ride  over  the  plains;  and  hearing 
these  murmured  in  the  sensitive  ear,  the  animal  in- 
stantly responded  by  increased  effort. 

Our  hurdle-race  ended  suddenly  by  an  accident  to 
one  of  the  officers.  We  resolved  to  discourage  hurdle- 
jumping  after  that,  when  we  saw  the  handsome  head 
of  one  of  our  best  riders  in  the  dust.  The  group  gath- 
ering round  him,  two  of  the  riders  returning,  the  sol- 


A  SLOW  MULE-BACE.  135 

diers  carrying  the  insensible  officer  to  an  ambulance, 
made  a  sad  and  anxious  spectacle  for  the  little  group 
of  women,  off  by  themselves,  especially  for  each  one 
who  feared  that  the  wounded  man  might  prove  to  be 
her  husband;  it  proved  to  be  a  bachelor  officer  in- 
stead. The  horse,  faltering,  had  rolled  over  him ;  but 
the  breaking  of  an  arm  and  a  rib  or  two  were  light 
afflictions  to  him,  and  he  was  soon  himself,  making 
light  of  his  accident,  regretting  with  all  his  heart  that 
he  had  proved  a  "  spoil  sport."  The  two  riders  who 
gave  up  their  race  to  return  to  their  fallen  comrade 
lost  their  opportunity  to  win  the  prizes,  and  one  of 
them,  the  best  rider  in  the  regiment,  had  every  pros- 
pect of  triumph  when,  with  rare  self-denial,  he  aban- 
doned the  contest  to  care  for  his  friend. 

While  we  were  at  Fort  Leavenworth  there  was  a 
mule-race  arranged  to  be  run  on  our  track,  and  the 
preparations  were  most  elaborate ;  hearing  the  arrange- 
ments so  much  talked  of  and  studied  over,  we  could 
scarcely  wait  for  the  day.  A  purse  of  fifty  dollars  was 
made  up  for  the  prizes.  In  the  first  place,  the  women 
were  all  tranquil  in  their  minds.  There  would  be  no 
lofty  leaps  over  dangerous  hurdles,  for  reasons  that  the 
mule  could  offer;  and  as  one  of  the  conditions  was 
that  the  slowest  animal  was  to  win,  even  the  most 
timid  woman  need  not  dread  reckless  speed.  The  Gov- 
ernment sent  out  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  then  the 
headquarters  of  the  division,  great  trains  of  supplies 
for  the  far-distant  posts ;  consequently  there  were  many 
mules  always  in  the  quartermaster's  corral.    And  they 


136  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

were  not  only  many  in  number,  but  various  in  charac- 
ter, from  the  skittisli  little  leaders  to  the  ponderous 
wheelers.  The  latter  were  no  one  knows  how  old ; 
they  were  stiff  and  lumbering,  and  their  tough  old 
sides  seared  and  hairless,  in  long  welts,  where  the  har- 
ness had  worn  into  the  flesh  in  many  a  pull  through 
sand  or  muddy  river-bottom,  or  up  the  steep  banks  of 
streams. 

It  was  over  these  antiques  that  the  officers  lingered. 
They  sought  out  the  dullest  and  the  laziest,  and  were 
assured  by  the  teamsters,  when  asking  about  their  pow- 
ers of  lagging,  that  if  it  was  laziness  they  were  look- 
ing for,  "  that  'ere  brute  could  beat  the  record."  Poor, 
down-trodden  animals,  working  all  their  dull  lives  in 
heavy  harness,  never  in  all  their  days  so  much  as  ask- 
ed to  go  out  of  a  walk,  now  suddenly  to  be  launched 
upon  the  world  as  racers !  Each  officer,  after  his  se- 
lection from  the  corral,  had  his  mule  conveyed  to  his 
own  stable,  and  there  in  privacy  he  practised  the  art, 
new  to  all  of  them,  of  mounting  mule-back.  The  ani- 
mal, always  taught  to  think  that  his  mission  in  this 
world  was  to  writhe  and  struggle  through  life  under 
harness,  had  to  be  made  acquainted  little  by  little  with 
a  saddle.     It  was  a  long  and  dangerous  instruction. 

The  mule  General  Custer  selected  never  submitted 
to  the  discipline  until  the  most  marvellous  harness  was 
invented  by  the  would-be  rider,  which  so  bound  in  ev- 
ery muscle,  and  subdued  every  kicking  heel,  that  at  last 
the  saddle  could  be  adjusted.  General  Custer,  always 
brimming  over  with  fun,  had  determined  to  add  to  the 


A   SLOW  MULE-BACE.  137 

amusement  of  tlie  day  by  selecting  the  animal  that  the 
entire  quartermaster's  department  declared  to  be  the 
most  obstreperous.  His  record  as  a  kicker  was  well 
known.  Eliza  described  the  mules  that  hauled  our 
travelling- wagon  along  a  quiet  road  as  "  the  stupidest, 
stubbornest,  most  contrary  animals  ever  I  did  see,"  and 
here  was  one  that  was  renowned  for  being  the  most 
"  contrary  "  of  all  that  were  used  in  the  department. 

The  harness  prepared  extended  from  the  tips  of  the 
mule's  ears  to  the  last  hairs  on  the  tail.  There  were 
huge  blinders,  consisting  of  a  strap  over  his  ears  and 
broadening  over  the  face  like  a  mask.  The  whole 
body  was  a  net- work  of  straps  of  leather,  which  bound 
the  rebellious  animal  from  head  to  foot.  Even  with 
the  mask  down,  the  orderly  had  to  throw  his  coat  over 
the  entire  head  while  General  Custer  leaped  with  the 
quickness  of  a  cat  into  the  saddle.  The  officers  had 
heard  something  of  the  history  of  this  mule  from  the 
quartermaster's  employes,  and  when  the  time  came  for 
each  officer  to  give  up  his  mule  and  take  another — for 
it  was  the  rule  that  no  one  should  ride  his  own  animal — 
the  one  to  whom  the  famous  kicker  fell  was  somewhat 
doubtful  whether  he  might  not  be  prevented  by  the 
animal  from  joining  in  the  race  at  all.  When  General 
Custer,  incited  by  the  spirit  of  mischief,  which  was  up- 
permost in  a  frolic,  insisted  upon  taking  his  newly  in- 
vented harness  as  well  as  his  saddle  to  put  on  the  mule 
he  had  drawn,  there  was  a  wild  uproar  and  a  general 
protest. 

The  thirteen  gentlemen  did  not  look  like  gentlemen, 


138  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

for  all,  catching  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  were  attired 
in  peculiar  costumes,  each  flying  a  color  or  colors  that 
were  as  infelicitous  as  the  beasts  they  had  selected. 
One  of  the  young  men  was  an  object  of  ridicule  be- 
cause of  his  bald  head.  For  some  strange  reason  his 
hair  had  dropped  out,  and  his  head  looked  like  a  bill- 
iard ball.  The  fine  curly  wig,  the  chef-d^ceuvre  of  the 
town  barber,  was  wisely  left  at  home,  as  there  was  a 
not  unfounded  idea  that  the  kicking  would  almost  dis- 
lodge well-rooted  hair,  to  say  nothing  of  wigs.  The 
courage  of  this  officer  in  appearing  in  so  ridiculous  a 
plight  ought  to  have  insured  him  immunity  from  the 
laughing  taunts  of  his  fellows ;  but  for  fear  he  should 
be  assailed,  he  prepared  his  revenge  in  advance,  and  had 
his  mule  carefully  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  white 
paint ;  while  the  discussions  preliminary  to  the  race 
went  on  he  rode  unconcernedly  among  the  riders,  jos- 
tling every  one,  until  he  had  left  so  much  of  the  paint 
on  his  comrades  that  the  mule's  hide  was  quite  visible 
again.  Spurring  their  animals  to  get  out  of  his  way 
only  put  them  in  more  fiendish  temper,  and  the  buck- 
ing, backing,  and  kicking  were  general. 

It  was  plain  that  each  mule  was  determined  to  pro- 
test against  taking  the  track,  and  each  objected  in  his 
own  particular  fashion.  From  the  ladies'  stand  it  looked 
like  a  conglomeration  of  hoofs,  tails,  fluttering  ribbons, 
and  flying  coat-tails,  legs  vigorously  digging  spurs  into 
ribs,  arms  swinging,  whips  waving,  and  every  one  talk- 
ing at  once,  but  not  drowning  the  braying  of  the  out- 
raged animals. 


A   SLOW   MULE-RACE.  139 

A  programme  was  prepared,  in  which  some  names 
were  inserted  that  may  not  be  understood,  unless  it  is 
known  that  hardtack  was  issued  by  the  commissary. 
"  Eaton  "  was  the  name  of  the  quartermaster  who  gave 
out  the  contracts ;  and  "  Card  "  was  the  name  of  anoth- 
er quartermaster,  who  had  charge  of  the  wagon  train, 
muleteers,  etc.     The  programme  ran  as  follows  : 

UNITED   STATES  f  COUESE. 

Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

JUNE  MEETING, 

TUESDAY,  JUNE   16th,  1868,  4  P.M. 

MULE-KACE ! 
officers'  purse $50 

one-mile  dash  —  slow  race. 

1.  General  Custer  enters  Hyankedank,  by  Hifalutin,  out 
of  Snollygoster,  second  dam  Buckjump,  by  Thunder,  out  of 
You  Bet.  Age,  threescore  years  and  ten.  Colors,  ring-ed, 
streak-ed,  and  strip-ed. 

2.  General  McKeever  enters  Hard  Tack,  by  Commissary, 
by  Eaton  (eatin'),  second  dam  Contractor,  by  Morgan,  out 
of  Missouri.  Age,  forty  years.  Colors,  purple,  tipped  with 
orange. 

3.  Colonel  Parsons  enters  Symmetry  (see  me  try),  by 
Considerably,  out  of  Pocket,  second  dam  Polly  Tix,  by 
Nasby,  out  of  Office.  Age,  seventeen  years.  Colors,  un- 
commonly blue. 

4.  Captain  Yates  enters  William  Tell,  by  Switzerland,  by 
Apple  Tree,  second  dam  Gessler,  by  Hapsburg,  out  of  Aus- 
tria.    Age,  eighteen  years.     Colors,  apple  green. 


140  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

5.  Lieutenant  Leary  enters  Trump,  by  Card,  out  of  Con- 
tractor, second  dam  Leader,  by  Mule-Teer,  out  of  Wagon. 
Age,  ten  years.     Colors,  lemon. 

6.  Lieutenant  Jackson  enters  Abyssinia,  by  Napier,  out 
of  Africa,  dam  Theodorus,  by  Solomon,  out  of  Magdala. 
Age,  thirty-nine  years.     Colors,  scarlet,  yellow  spots. 

7.  Colonel  Myers  enters  Pizzarro,  by  Peru,  out  of  South 
America,  second  dam  Cuzco,  by  Incas,  out  of  Andes.  Age, 
sixteen  years.     Colors,  light  brown. 

8.  Lieutenant  Umbstaetter  enters  Skirmisher,  by  Picket, 
out  of  Camp,  second  dam  Carbine,  by  Breech  Loader,  out  of 
Magazine.  Age,  twenty -five  years.  Colors,  dark  blue,  tipped 
with  red. 

9.  Lieutenant  Moylan  enters  Break-Neck,  by  Runaway, 
out  of  Wouldn't  Go,  second  dam  Contusion,  by  Collision, 
out  of  Accident.     Age,  fifty-six.     Colors,  sky  blue. 

10.  Captain  Huntington,  enters  Spavin,  by  Quartermaster, 
out  of  Government,  second  dam  (not  worth  one).  Age, 
twenty-one  years.     Colors,  a-knock-to-ruin  (an  octoroon). 

11.  Lieutenant  Howe  enters  Slow,  by  Tardy,  out  of  Late, 
second  dam  Lazy,  by  Inactive.  Age,  three  times  6,  four 
times  seven,  twenty-eight  and  11.     Colors,  queer. 

12.  Lieutenant  Dunwoody  enters  Horatio,  by  Dexterity, 
by  Taunt,  second  dam  Estop.  Age,  fourteen  years.  Colors, 
tawney. 

13.  Captain  Weir  enters  Revolutionist,  by  Hard  Luck, 
out  of  Rib  Smasher,  second  dam  Blood  Blister,  by  Can't- 
Stand-it,  out  of  Let's  Quit.  Age,  sixteen.  Colors,  black- 
and-blue. 

Note. — The  money  accruing  from  this  race  is  to  be  devoted  to  the 
support  of  the  widows  and  orphans  made  so  thereby. 


If  there  is  a  reporter  more  energetic  than  another  it 
is  the  Western  man.     The  enterprise  that  drives  him 


A   SLOW   MULE-RACE.  141 

West  furnishes  plenty  of  perseverance  to  penetrate 
wherever  there  promises  to  be  novelty.  The  mule-race 
was  unique,  and  the  Leavenworth  newspaper  proved 
that  there  was  a  "  chiel  amang  us  takin'  notes,"  which 
was,  in  reality,  very  easy  to  do,  as  the  soldier,  though 
he  is  silent  on  duty,  cannot  be  muzzled  when  he  gets 
furlough  to  go  into  town.  The  personal  references  in 
the  following  newspaper  article  were  to  oflScers  who 
were  either  very  large,  very  staid,  or  extremely  quiet, 
and  in  one  or  two  instances  no  longer  young,  which 
made  the  allusions  extremely  funny  to  us  who  knew 
them.  The  sensational  exaggeration  of  Western  jour- 
nalism is  sometimes  got  up  to  order  now,  in  expecta- 
tion of  the  instant  appropriation  of  the  wit  by  ex- 
changes ;  but  at  that  time  it  was  spontaneous,  and 
reflected  the  every -day  habits  of  speech  in  the  West : 

THE  GREAT  SLOW  MULE-RACE  TO-DAY. 

A  FEAST  OF  REASON  AND  A  FLOW  OF  SOUL. 

INTENSE   EXCITEMENT    -    THRILLING  TIMES   AHEAD. 

Cato,  a  distinguished  old  grumbler,  who  resided  some- 
where some  centuries  ago,  it  is  said,  rebuked  a  good  rider 
at  a  steeple-chase  by  telling  him  that  his  skill  and  ability 
were  thrown  away.  Cato  owed  his  publisher,  hence  Cato 
was  sour  and  down  on  racing. 

Gentle  reader — that  is  to  say,  girls  and  boys — were  you 
ever  at  a  mule-race — a  slow  mule-race — a  mule-race  with 
Sheridan  and  Card  and  Gibbs  and  McNutt  and  Mills  ?  If 
not,  we  advise  you  to  go  this  afternoon. 


142  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

THE    RACE. 

Every  commissioned  officer  at  this  post  has  either  to  ride 
at  the  race  this  afternoon  or  pay  a  forfeit  of  five  dollars.  As 
money  is  scarce,  and  times  tough  at  present,  nearly  all  the 
officers  will  ride.  At  the  call  of  time  each  rider  is  to  mount 
his  own  mule,  and  parade  before  the  judge's  stand  to  show 
that  he  is  not  afraid.  The  judge  then  gives  the  order  to 
dismount  and  "  swap  mules."  At  this  command  every  rider 
moilnts  a  strange  mule — no  one  being  allowed  to  ride  his 
own.  Then,  at  a  signal,  all  start,  each  riding  his  darndest, 
and  the  mule  that  comes  in  last  wins  the  race. 

"Sheridan's  ride." 

With  feelings  of  deep  regret  we  announce  that  the  major- 
general  commanding  will  not  ride.  This  may  be  relied  on 
as  positive.  He  has  paid  his  forfeit.  He  had  bought  him 
a  little  bob-tailed,  blue,  mouse-colored  mule,  and  was  train- 
ing him  like  Sam  Hill,  when  an  idea  struck  him,  to  wit,  that 
there  were  poets  in  Kansas.  Suppose,  thought  he,  that  one 
of  these  fellows  should  get  off  a  strain  called  "  Sheridan's 
Mule-ride !"  The  thought  sickened  him,  and,  as  aforesaid, 
he  paid  his  forfeit.  Buchanan  Reid  came  near  ruining 
Sheridan.  After  Jim  Murdock  first  spouted  the  poem,  every 
little  girl  and  boy,  every  tough  old  maid,  every  big-paunched 
parson,  every  lawyer,  every  doctor,  and  everybody  just  rode 
Sheridan,  until,  from  sheer  exhaustion,  he  asked  to  be  sent 
to  the  Indian  country. 

GIBBS   WILL    RIDE. 

The  gallant  general  commanding  the  post  will  ride — 
feather-weight.  The  general  is  said  to  be  an  accomplished 
mulist.  General  McNutt  will  also  ride  his  trained  mule 
Calamity,  said  to  be  one  of  the  slowest  mules  in  the  depart- 
ment. 

Card  and  Morgan  have  paired  off,  and  paid  their  forfeits 


A   SLOW   MULE-BACE.  143 

like  men.  Both  were  raised  on  mules,  as  it  were,  and  have 
ridden  them  from  infancy,  but  the  responsibilities  weighing 
upon  them  were  too  great,  and  they  were  reluctantly  forced 
to  forego. 

Dr.  Mills  won't  ride,  as  he  expects  to  be  on  hand  to  attend 
the  wounded.  He  paid  his  forfeit  like  a  Muncie  chief. 
Dr.  Brewer  will  be  there,  however,  with  his  black-and-tan 
mule,  Esculapius,  and  expects  to  get  round  if  they  will  give 
him  time  enough. 

The  gallant  Yates,  with  his  massive  three-deck  jackass, 
proposes  to  go  through  on  his  own  quarter-deck. 

Both  the  Forsyths  will  appear  above  the  horizon,  and  be 
visible  to  the  naked  eye,  on  gorgeous  mules.  Three  friends 
are  backing  them  against  the  field. 

The  chivalrous  Parsons  and  the  fiery  Custer  are  practising 
on  two  mules.  We  saw  them  the  other  evening  "  rehears- 
ing "  in  a  ten-acre  field,  to  the  tune  of  "  Benny  Havens."* 
They  propose  to  cross  the  last  ditch,  and  as  they  are  polite- 
ness itself,  each  will  insist  on  crossing  last. 

The  magnificent  band  from  the  Fort  will  be  on  hand  to 
discourse  sweet  music.  Boys,  you'd  better  go  and  take  the 
girls.  These  mule-races  are  fine  places  to  study  human  nat- 
ure. Every  jackass,  properly  observed,  contains  a  sermon — 
or  perhaps  two.  Else  why  did  Goldsmith  write  of  the  Vicar 
of  Bray  ?  f 

When  McKeever  rides  everybody  should  be  on  hand. 
Talk  of  John  Gilpin  or  Israel  Putnam !  They  are  nothing 
to  McKeever  on  a  graphic  mule.  McKeever's  friends  are 
taking  odds  on  him.     Boys,  go  ! 

When  the  race  finally  began  each  ofiieer  forgot  per- 
sonal appearance,  ignored  the  ridiculous  position  into 

*  The  West  Point  tune. 

f  The  reporter's  information  concerning  classic  English  litera- 
ture seems  to  have  needed  some  refreshing. 


144  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

which  he  had  put  himself,  and  bent  every  energy  of 
his  body  and  mind  to  getting  over  that  mile  of  earth. 
It  was  as  ridiculous  a  sight  as  is  not  often  seen.  Men 
who  prided  themselves  on  having  a  perfect  seat  in  the 
saddle,  now  doubled  up  in  a  heap,  dug  their  knees  into 
the  animals'  sides,  and  shouted  as  they  tried  to  get  the 
"  dumb,  driven  "  creatures  into  a  gallop.  Imagine  how 
surprised  the  mules  must  have  been  to  be  lashed  into 
a  lumbering  run !  The  officers'  legs  and  arms  were  fly- 
ing, the  mules'  long  ears  flopping  in  indignation,  while 
their  tails  flew  up  in  angry  protest  at  every  cut  of  the 
whip.  These  queer  tails  were  shaved  according  to  the 
fancy  of  the  teamsters,  only  one  little  tuft  usually  being 
left  on  the  end,  like  a  lion's  brush,  while  in  some  cases 
two  rings  of  hair  were  spared  at  stated  intervals  to 
vary  the  plain  surface.  Whether  tufted  or  plain,  the 
animated  tails  expressed  the  mules'  idea  of  the  situa- 
tion most  graphically. 

As  each  officer  came  straggling  in  by  the  judge's 
stand,  quite  done  up  with  fatigue  from  his  exertions 
in  chastising  his  animal,  he  was  greeted  with  applause ; 
but  when,  after  fifteen  minutes,  the  last  one  entered, 
fagged  and  heated  with  the  whacking  he  had  adminis- 
tered to  the  unconscious  and  indifferent  winner  of  the 
prize,  all  the  company  lifted  up  their  voices  in  cries  of 
excited  merriment,  while  the  beast  that  had  won  on  his 
demerits  and  not  on  his  gifts,  if  he  had  any,  declined 
even  to  look  around,  but  hung  his  dejected  head  and 
drooped  his  wide  ears,  and  allowed  the  anger  to  depart 
from  the  much  tufted  and  trimmed  appendage,  while 


A   SLOW   MULE-BACE.  145 

he  was  decked  with  a  gaudy  ribbon  as  an  emblem  of 
victory. 

Then  our  gay  afternoon  ended,  and  every  one  mount- 
ed spirited  horses  and  started  for  home.  First  came 
the  officers,  eagerly  talking  over  the  race  to  the  women 
who  rode  by  their  sides ;  then  all  the  orderlies,  riding 
at  the  regulation  distance  in  the  rear,  disputing  quietly, 
for  fear  of  reprimand,  over  their  especial  views  of  the 
afternoon  sport ;  while  a  crowd  of  vociferous,  jolly  sol- 
diers, too  far  back  to  be  heard  and  brought  to  order, 
laughed  and  shouted  and  rehearsed  the  events  of  the 
day  in  eager,  buoyant  tones,  as  pleased  over  the  droll  af- 
fair as  if  they  had  taken  part  in  it,  and  each  one  boast- 
ed over  the  doings  of  the  officer  he  especially  liked,  as 
if  a  vast  sum  of  money  and  the  reputation  of  thorough- 
breds had  been  at  stake. 

The  dews  of  evening  were  falling,  and  as  our  way 
for  a  time  led  through  the  rich  bottom-land  of  the 
river,  the  flowers  and  the  blossoms  of  the  wild  grape 
loaded  the  air  with  fragrance.  It  is  seldom  that  so 
light-hearted  and  joyous  a  company  of  people  is  gath- 
ered together.  They  were  light  in  pocket,  it  is  true, 
but  rich  in  health,  in  the  keenest  capability  for  enjoy- 
ment, in  blessed  fellowship  for  each  other.  Take  envy 
out  of  a  character  and  it  leaves  great  possibility  for 
friendship.  Every  one  was  so  nearly  even  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  this  world's  goods  and  its  gifts  that  there 
was  little  chance  for  that  covetousness  which  eats  like 
a  canker. 

If  we  had  gone  out  with  full  purses,  and  had  returned 
10 


146  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

with  them  empty,  after  the  fashion  of  the  race-course, 
the  laugh  would  not  have  been  so  ringing,  or  the  sound 
of  merriment  in  the  voices  so  free  and  fun-provoking. 
Delighting  in  contrasts,  we  drew  pictures  of  the  now 
distinguished  -  looking  men  as  they  had  appeared  in 
their  grotesque  attitudes  and  ridiculous  energy  over 
the  "  cattle  "  they  had  urged  on  to  victory.  The  cav- 
alcade was  now  something  to  rejoice  in,  and  as  the  long 
line  of  horsemen  wound  through  the  wood  and  along 
the  country  road,  the  days  of  knight-errantry  might 
seem,  in  the  dim  twilight,  to  have  returned  again  in  this 
nineteenth  century. 


•Rogue's  flSaccb. 


^^9^3E 


Poor  old 


#_i_^. 


8ol  -  dier,       Poor  old      sol  -  dier,  He'll  be  tarred  and  feathered  and 


-^~=A 


Si^§3 


S 


sent      to     h— 1,     Be  -  cauee  he    would -n't    sol  -  dier    well. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TALES   OF   soldiers'  DEVOTION   AND   DROLLERY. 

By  one  of  the  changes  that  are  constantly  occurring 
in  the  line  of  duty,  our  brother  Tom  lost  his  tent-mate. 
There  was  no  use  in  lamenting  this  apparently  small 
circumstance,  but  still  we  could  not  help  doing  so,  as 
the  two  had  great  comfort  out  of  the  intimate  com- 
panionship ;  but  there  was  another,  and  a  ludicrous  as- 
pect of  the  change.  Colonel  Tom's  tent-mate  was  afraid 
of  snakes,  and  had  good  reason  to  be,  as  is  subsequent- 
ly explained.  He  had  used  Tom  as  a  barricade  on  one 
side  of  the  mattress  spread  on  the  ground,  while  the 
combined  outfit  of  the  two  was  heaped  upon  the  other, 
as  if  it  had  all  belonged  to  the  younger  officer,  and  thus 
he  slept.     This  great,  splendid  fellow  Tom,  groaning 


148  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

over  the  exposed  position  he  was  destined  to  occupy 
alone  in  his  tent,  was  an  amusing  sight ;  but  his  anxie- 
ties were  very  real,  and  nothing  was  too  small  in  the 
way  of  a  grievance  for  all  of  us  to  enter  into  it  sympa- 
thetically in  that  circumscribed  life.  As  the  oJBficer 
moving  sat  with  us  his  man,  an  old  Irish  soldier  named 
Huglies,  kept  travelling  by  carrying  the  "  traps  "  of  his 
lieutenant.  Presently  Tom  cried  out  to  the  soldier : 
"  See  here,  Hughes,  it  seems  to  me  you're  making  a 
good  many  journeys,  considering  the  condition  of  your 
lieutenant's  wardrobe,"  and  out  he  went  to  overhaul 
the  load.  Hughes,  to  reconcile  his  officer  to  leaving 
his  tent-mate,  and  to  supply  some  long-felt  wants  in 
the  improvident  lieutenant's  outfit,  had  quietly  ex- 
tracted some  of  Tom's  best  things.  When  Tom  came 
back  with  a  bundle,  of  which  he  had  relieved  Hughes, 
he  found  even  his  tooth-brush  and  sponge  in  the  par- 
cel, and  the  laughing  lieutenant,  shaking  with  fun  at 
Tom's  indignation,  said,  calmly  :  "  Hughes  is  so  provi- 
dent I  never  seem  to  need  anything ;  I  never  ask  how 
it  happens  that  my  holey  socks  are  replaced  by  good 
ones,  and  my  ragged  underclothing  in  a  single  night 
comes  out  whole,  if  I  happen  to  have  a  guest,  but  I  do 
draw  the  line  at  a  second-hand  supply  of  tooth-brushes 
and  sponges.  There  are  limits  even  to  friendship,  and 
those  two  commodities  I  prefer  shall  be  new." 

It  is,  and  has  been  for  all  time,  a  characteristic  of 
army  servants  that  however  immaculate  their  honesty 
may  be  where  they  themselves  are  concerned  (and  they 
can  be  trusted  with  everything),  they  relax  when  it 


149 

comes  to  setting  up  the  officer  they  serve  with  wliat 
they  think  a  suitable  outfit. 

Once  at  Winchester,  during  the  war,  we  entertained 
General  Sheridan  and  his  staff.  It  was  a  cold  night, 
and  the  officers  did  not  all  take  an  orderly,  as  is  their 
custom,  not  liking  to  expose  the  men  to  the  bitter  air. 
While  we  were  welcoming  and  entertaining  our  guests 
in  the  old  Virginia  house  used  as  headquarters,  our 
men  in  the  stable  were  doing  the  same  with  the  order- 
lies. As  the  pipes  went  round,  and  the  canteen  of  whis- 
key was  tipped,  one  soldier,  conspiring  with  his  com- 
rades, slipped  out  of  the  circle  and  replaced  all  the 
shining  bridles,  and  some  of  the  fresh  saddle-cloths 
and  stirrups,  with  our  well-worn  property.  In  the  dark, 
and  in  the  excitement  of  departure,  these  changes  were 
not  noticed ;  but  next  morning  a  friendly  note  came 
with  very  pointed  remarks  about  the  cavalry  thief  be- 
ing the  most  unscrupulous  and  adroit  in  the  service, 
and  the  first  that  General  Custer  knew  of  the  "  lift- 
ing "  was  the  announcement  that  General  Sheridan 
made.  No  one  could  help  laughing,  however,  at  the 
shameless  audacity  of  our  men,  who  thought  a  major- 
general's  outfit  just  as  available  for  looting  purposes  as 
that  of  a  second  lieutenant,  when  the  replenishing  of 
their  own  officers'  outfit  was  in  question. 

The  devotion  of  the  soldiers  to  their  officers  was  so 
great  that  they  were  capable  of  such  self-sacrifice  as  is 
seldom  known  outside  of  the  army.  They  kept  the 
purse  sometimes,  and  when  their  spendthrift  master 
demanded  money,  if  he  happened  to  be  not  quite  him- 


150  FOLLOWmG  THE   GUIDON. 

self,  the  faithful  soldier  refused  to  give  it,  or  declared 
that  it  was  all  gone ;  but  afterwards,  when  the  mess  bill 
was  to  be  paid,  the  necessary  funds  were  forthcoming. 

I  remember  that  General  Custer  and  I  were  paying 
a  visit  at  the  tent  of  an  Irish  officer  who  had  turned 
himself  over  to  his  man  for  safe-keeping.  Literally,  he 
had  given  himself  up  to  be  directed  as  Finnigan  willed 
— not,  of  course,  in  official  affairs,  but  in  every-day  do- 
ings. He  even  enjoyed  declaring  that  he  had  no  fur- 
ther responsibility  in  life.  Finnigan  kept  track  of  his 
purse,  his  clothes,  his  outfit,  his  debts.  He  did  not 
know  where  anything  was,  and  he  did  not  propose  to 
inquire.  "Wishing  to  show  us  some  decorations  he  had 
received  in  foreign  service,  he  called  to  his  man.  Fin- 
nigan, clean,  respectful,  unspoiled  by  the  familiarity  and 
dependence  of  his  master,  produced  the  orders  from  his 
own  little  "  A  "  tent  at  the  rear.  This  captain,  proud 
as  Finnigan  was  of  him,  sometimes  became  so  hopeless- 
ly boozy,  the  man  concluded  that  the  safest  place  for 
the  valuables  and  the  family  funds  was  in  his  own  quar- 
ters. As  we  held  these  precious  possessions,  admiring 
their  beauty,  and  drawing  their  owner  out  to  tell  us  of 
the  field  on  which  they  were  won,  the  subject  turned 
upon  the  Pope.  Finnigan  visibly  swelled  with  pride 
to  think  his  master  had  once  been  in  the  service  of  that 
magnate.  His  straight  back  became  straighter,  and  his 
expressive  face  spoke  volumes.  I  sometimes  thought 
the  enforced  silence  of  a  soldier  taught  him  to  use  his 
body  as  well  as  his  face  in  expressing  thought,  and 
made  them  both  take  the  place  of  speech.     Suddenly 


TALES   OF   SOLDIEES'  DEVOTION   AND   DROLLERY.      151 

tliere  was  a  limp  look  about  him,  his  military  spinal 
column  seemed  to  have  hollowed  out  and  to  droop,  and 
his  face  looked  reproof  and  disapproval.  In  trying  to 
account  for  this  change  I  attributed  it  to  the  conversa- 
tion. It  was,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  the  summer  when 
the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  was  agitated. 
The  captain  was  a  Romanist,  but  not  an  ultra  one,  and 
Finnigan  had  looked  remonstrance  when  the  laughing 
officer  said  to  us, "  Why,  I  have  had  so  many  notices  of 
excommunication  I  feel  strange  if  I  waken  and  don't 
find  one  waiting  for  me  every  morning  now." 

The  wit  among  these  men  was  fully  appreciated  by 
all  of  us,  and  very  clever  remarks  filtered  through  the 
kitchen  which  we  never  would  have  heard  otherwise. 
If  an  old  soldier  was  addressed  by  an  oflficer  he  replied 
as  briefly  as  possible,  in  obedience  to  the  instructions  of 
his  sergeant.  Consequently,  they  habitually  condensed 
their  replies,  having  so  little  chance  at  speech  with  the 
officers,  and  no  one  tried  to  keep  a  straight  face  when 
some  of  the  Irishmen  made  answer.  The  higher  the 
rank  the  more  the  officer  spoke  with  his  men,  those  of 
higher  grade  having  reached  that  point  in  exaltation 
where  silence  was  not  necessary  to  compel  respect,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  raw  lieutenant.  A  ranking  officer  of 
the  Seventh  said  to  an  old  soldier  who  was  married  to  a 
camp  woman,  and  had  lately  been  presented  with  twins, 
"  Well,  Scott,  I  hear  you've  got  a  couple  of  recruits  at 
your  quarters."  A  most  pompous  military  salute  was 
given,  accompanied  by  a  pleased  grin,  and  the  reply, 
"  jN"o,  sir,  a  recruit  and  a  laundress." 


152  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

The  mistakes  of  the  raw  recruits  came  around  also 
by  way  of  the  kitchen  tent  to  us,  and  afforded  us  many 
a  laugh.  For  instance,  a  company  drawn  up  in  line  is 
the  severest  type  of  exactitude.  Each  soldier  stands 
like  a  statue,  and  if  he  does  bend  out  in  front,  or  his 
shoulders  stoop  the  least  bit,  the  sergeant  claps  the 
back  of  his  sabre  on  the  offending  outline,  and  it 
straightens  in  a  twinkling.  The  men,  drilled  to  this 
immobility,  stand  without  swaying  while  the  roll  is 
called.  A  certain  sergeant,  who  had  been  promoted 
from  the  ranks  of  recruits  for  soldierly  conduct,  had 
not  yet  learned  to  distinguish  accurately  between  offi- 
cial and  social  affairs.  He  seemed  to  think  domestic 
as  well  as  military  news  must  be  officially  set  forth, 
and  on  one  occasion  he  reported  his  company  "pres- 
ent, or  accounted  for,"  and,  without  pausing  to  take 
breath,  continued, "  Mulligan's  baby's  dead,  sir." 

Another  incident  illustrative  of  army  life  may  be 
mentioned.  An  infantry  officer  was  calling  on  a  cav- 
alry general,  and  they  fell  to  discussing  the  discipline 
of  the  two  arms  of  the  service,  each  claiming  for  his 
own  corps  the  more  advanced  state  of  military  perfec- 
tion. While  they  conversed  a  cavalry  orderly  brought 
a  despatch,  and  before  he  could  dismount  his  horse 
stumbled  and  threw  him  over  his  head,  landing  him  in 
front  of  the  officers.  In  an  instant  the  man  was  on  his 
feet,  and  saluting,  he  handed  the  paper  to  his  officer 
with  undisturbed  face.  The  infantry  officer  was  aston- 
ished at  this  quick  recovery,  and  prompt  compliance 
with  military  etiquette ;  but  turning  to  his  companion, 


TALES   OF   soldiers'  DEVOTION   AND   DROLLERY.      153 

he  met  a  perfectly  immobile  countenance,  as,  with  a 
wave  of  the  hand,  the  cavalry  commander  said, "  That's 
the  way  they  always  report." 

In  military  life  it  is  rather  difficult  to  approach  the 
commanding  officer,  for  were  it  not  so  the  men  would 
run  to  him,  like  a  lot  of  school-boys,  with  every  trifling 
complaint.  The  soldier  is  therefore  required  to  speak 
to  his  sergeant,  he  in  turn  to  his  captain,  and  the  latter 
gives  permission  to  the  enlisted  man  to  carry  his  re- 
quest or  complaint  in  person,  if  it  proves  to  be  of  suf- 
ficient consequence.  Rather  an  elderly  man  had  come 
on  as  recruit,  and  he,  not  knowing  the  "  divinity  that 
doth  hedge  "  a  commanding  officer,  said  to  his  troop 
commander,  "See  here,  cap'n,  where's  the  old  man? 
I  want  to  have  a  talk  with  him."  After  that  General 
Custer  went  by  the  name  of  "  the  Old  Man "  among 
his  brother  officers  when  off  duty. 

The  town  of  Hays  City,  near  us,  was  a  typical  West- 
ern place.  The  railroad  having  but  just  reached  there, 
the  "  roughs,"  who  fly  before  civilization,  had  not  yet 
taken  their  departure.  There  was  hardly  a  building 
worthy  of  the  name,  except  the  station-house.  A  con- 
siderable part  of  the  place  was  built  of  rude  frames 
covered  with  canvas;  the  shanties  were  made  up  of 
slabs,  bits  of  drift-wood,  and  logs,  and  sometimes  the 
roofs  were  covered  with  tin  tliat  had  once  been  fruit 
or  vegetable  cans,  now  flattened  out.  A  smoke  rising 
from  the  surface  of  the  street  might  arrest  your  atten- 
tion, but  it  indicated  only  an  underground  addition  to 
some  small  "  shack,"  built  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 


154:  FOLLOWING  THE   GFIDON. 

The  carousing  and  lawlessness  of  Hays  City  were  in- 
cessant. Pistol-shots  were  heard  so  often  it  seemed  a 
perpetual  Fourth  of  July,  only  without  the  harmless- 
ness  of  that  pyrotechnic  holiday.  The  aim  of  a  border 
ruffian  is  so  accurate  that  a  shot  was  pretty  certain  to 
mean  a  death,  or,  at  least,  a  serious  wound  for  some 
one.  As  we  sat  under  our  fly  in  camp,  where  all  was 
order,  and  where  harmony  reigned,  the  report  of  pistol- 
shots  came  over  the  intervening  plains  to  startle  us. 
The  officers,  always  teasing,  as  is  so  apt  to  be  the  case 
with  those  who  are  overflowing  with  animal  spirits, 
would  solemnly  say  to  us,  "  There  goes  a  man  to  his 
long  home ;"  and  this  producing  the  shudder  in  me 
that  was  expected,  they  elicited  more  shivering  and 
sorrowful  ejaculations  by  adding,  as  the  shots  went  on, 
**  jtsTow,  there  goes  a  woman ;  two  were  shot  last  night." 
Our  men  knew  so  much  of  the  worthlessness  of  these 
outlaw  lives  that  it  was  difficult  to  arouse  pity  in  them 
for  either  a  man's  or  a  woman's  death  in  the  border 
towns. 

It  was  at  Hays  City  that  the  graveyard  was  begun 
with  interments  of  men  who  had  died  violent  deaths, 
and  there  were  thirty  -  six  of  their  graves  before  we 
left.  The  citizens  seemed  to  think  no  death  worthy 
of  mention  unless  it  was  that  of  some  one  who  had 
died  "  with  his  boots  on."  There  was  enough  desper- 
ate history  in  the  little  town  in  that  one  summer  to 
make  a  whole  library  of  dime  novels.  I  should  not 
have  heard  much  about  these  things  had  not  the  men 
delighted  to  shock  the  three  women  in  camp  with 


155 

these  tales  of  bloodshed ;  and,  besides,  it  was  rather 
difficult  to  keep  us  in  ignorance  of  much  that  occurred 
in  the  town,  as  our  soldiers  were,  unfortunately,  en- 
gaged in  many  an  affray  with  the  citizens.  No  matter 
if  our  men  were  as  much  to  blame  as  the  rest,  it  was 
quite  natural  that  we  should  be  interested,  and  disposed 
to  defend  our  own.  - 

Soldiers  seem  always  capable  of  escaping  the  vigi- 
lance of  tho  sentinel,  and  after  waiting  till  taps  had 
long  sounded,  and  the  camp  was  still,  they  stole  away, 
and  no  one  was  the  wiser,  for  they  were  at  reveille  in 
the  morning.  If  one  of  them  got  drunk,  bruised,  or 
wounded,  the  rest  brought  him  home  and  propped 
him  up  to  report  at  reveille ;  or,  if  he  was  too  much 
intoxicated,  they  hid  him  until  he  was  sober.  If  two 
or  three  men  of  a  company  were  worsted  in  some  en- 
counter in  town,  they  had  only  to  come  back  and  tell 
their  version  of  the  story  to  their  comrades  ;  the  com- 
pany would  take  the  matter  up,  and  such  valiant  par- 
tisans were  they  that  even  the  sober,  law-abiding  ones 
would  set  out  the  next  night  to  "  clean  out  the  town." 
When  such  a  night  came  it  seemed  to  us  that  an  en- 
gagement was  going  on,  for  as  many  shots  were  fired 
as  in  a  skirmish  with  a  military  foe.  Next  morning 
our  men,  if  victors,  revealed  where  they  had  been  ;  but 
if  they  were  driven  off  the  enemy's  ground,  the  van- 
quished kept  sullen  silence. 

There  was  an  officer  of  the  guard  each  day,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  remain  at  the  guard-tent  throughout  the 
twenty-four  hours.     It  was  odious  duty,  but  every  kind 


166  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

of  precaution  was  taken  to  keep  the  men  from  leaving 
camp.  It  was  pretty  solemn  business  when  the  detail 
came  to  either  of  the  two  officers  whose  wives  were 
with  them;  but  when  they  obtained  permission  to 
bring  their  wives  to  the  regiment,  it  was  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  their  presence  should  not  interfere 
with  any  duty.  With  such  a  stipulation  it  goes  with- 
out saying  that  we  three  women  made  as  little  trouble 
as  possible.  With  a  whole  camp  of  faithful  soldiers 
who,  no  matter  what  they  did  outside,  would  never 
harm  their  own,  the  wives  of  the  two  lieutenants  were 
perfectly  safe ;  still  they  quieted  themselves,  if  left 
alone,  one  with  her  pistol  beside  her  at  night,  the  other 
with  her  husband's  sabre.  We  all  laughed  at  a  huge 
lock  one  of  them  had  put  on  a  door  which  was  made 
of  some  canvas  stretched  over  a  light  wooden  frame. 
To  turn  the  key  in  that  cumbrous  lock  seemed  to  give 
her  a  feeling  of  security.  If  an  officer  suggested,  teas- 
ingly,  how  quickly  an  entrance  might  be  made  with  a 
penknife  in  the  canvas,  she  took  the  sabre  in  her  vig- 
orous hand,  and  replied,  "  Whoever  comes  will  not  get 
very  far."  Often  and  often  our  soldier-servants  pitch- 
ed their  shelter  tents  outside  ours,  or  brought  their 
blankets  and  slept  under  the  fly  to  assure  us  that  they 
were  watching,  if  we  happened  to  be  alone. 

One  night  Mrs.  Smithy  was  by  herself,  as  her  hus- 
band was  officer  of  the  guard.  She  was  awakened 
with  a  start  by  hearing  muffled  sounds  of  voices.  An 
altercation  was  going  on  at  the  creek,  which  was  so 
near  her  tent  that  every  word  could  be  heard  through 


157 

the  canvas.  The  main  camp  was  too  far  to  be  reached 
by  the  sound  of  her  voice,  she  reasoned,  and  she  asked 
lierself  wliat  sort  of  showing  she  should  have  even  if 
her  soldier-servant  came  from  his  shelter  tent  at  the 
rear  of  hers,  as  they  would  be  but  two  against  so  many. 
All  the  voices  were  threatening  but  one,  and  that 
tremblingly  appealing.  She  shivered  with  fright,  and 
sat  up  in  her  camp-bed  with  her  pistol  in  her  hand. 
There  was  scuffling,  and  suppressed  though  angry  and 
profane  conversation.  All  this  fracas,  as  these  men 
crossed  the  stream,  was  unlike  the  conduct  of  soldiers ; 
she  felt  sure  that  it  was  a  party  of  desperadoes  from 
the  town,  coming  to  the  border  of  the  camp  to  pillage 
and  murder.  It  seemed  ages  before  the  threatening 
sounds  ceased.  Then  there  was  a  splashing  and  plung- 
ing in  the  water,  and  all  was  still. 

Next  morning  brought  a  solution  of  the  mystery. 
A  cavalry  horse,  tied  in  front  of  one  of  the  saloons  in 
town,  had  been  stolen.  As  soon  as  the  theft  was  dis- 
covered the  soldiers  gave  chase,  and  came  up  with  the 
thief  in  a  ravine  beyond  the  town.  The  man  knew 
perfectly  that  death  was  the  recognized  penalty  for 
horse-stealing.  Murder  was  considered  a  comparative- 
ly trivial  crime  by  all  the  border  people.  The  soldiers 
bound  the  man,  put  a  rope  around  his  neck,  and  start- 
ed him  towards  camp.  There  were  no  trees  on  which 
to  hang  him,  so  he  was  brought  on  and  on,  with  the 
expectation  that  his  last  hour  had  come.  As  he  neared 
Big  Creek,  and  the  trees  appeared,  he  was  sure  that 
he  would  soon  dangle  f^om  a  limb ;  but  the  soldiers, 


158  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

having  recovered  their  horse,  had  no  idea  of  such  ven- 
geance. They  considered  that  many  a  man  would 
rather  be  shot  down  at  once  than  live  through  such  a 
period  of  fear  as  he  had  passed  while  travelling  over 
miles  of  prairie  to  eternity,  as  he  supposed.  After 
some  parting  words  of  admonition,  mingled  with  oaths 
and  threats,  he  was  set  free ;  and  it  was  to  all  this  ser- 
mon from  the  soldiers,  and  to  the  entreaties  for  mercy 
from  the  criminal,  that  Mrs.  Smithy  had  listened. 

Civilians  were  not  so  lenient  with  offenders.  I  was 
set  into  terror  of  excitement  by  knowing  that  crime 
was  going  on  so  near  us — and  unpunished  as  it  was, 
there  was  no  manner  of  doubt  that  it  would  be  repeat- 
ed until  some  culprit  should  suffer.  But  there  was 
nothing  at  hand  to  serve  as  a  gallows.  There  was  no 
lumber,  and  logs  could  not  be  dragged  from  the  stream 
even  had  any  one  taken  time  from  the  gambling,  the 
dickering,  and  the  horse-racing  to  so  much  as  fell  them. 
Finally,  a  horse-thief  was  caught  in  the  town,  and  the 
citizens,  aflame  with  wrath  which  had  no  time  to  cool, 
dragged  the  culprit  to  the  nearest  railroad  bridge — 
really  not  much  more  than  a  culvert— and  here  the 
thief  hung  as  a  warning  to  all.  From  that  time  for- 
ward the  improvised  gallows  had  many  such  a  burden 
swaying  in  the  Kansas  wind.  In  our  hunts  and  our 
pleasure  rides  I  asked  to  shun  the  railroad  track,  for  I 
never  felt  sure  that  we  might  not  come  upon  a  ghastly 
body  swinging  from  the  beams  that  supported  the 
bridge. 


matcvim. 


^=^ 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WILD   BILL    AS  A   MAGISTRATE. 

Sometimes  the  fights  took  place  in  broad  daylight, 
and  the  streets  were  soon  cleared,  for  even  those  out- 
laws were  not  willing  to  encounter  a  stray  bullet,  if 
they  were  not  personally  engaged  in  the  altercation. 
At  one  time  General  Miles  and  General  Custer  went 
to  meet  General  Schofield  and  his  staff,  and  while  they 
waited  at  the  station  a  terrific  row  began ;  the  air  was 
filled  with  flying  bullets,  and  no  one  had  any  thought, 
seemingly,  but  of  murder.  The  two  officers  in  the  sta- 
tion could  not  attempt  to  quell  this  maddening  crowd, 
and  their  only  course  was  to  remain  quietly  in  the 
building ;  but  General  Custer,  being  in  some  exposed 
position,  was  intensely  amused  to  have  his  brave  com- 
rade, in  looking  out  for  his  safety,  say,  "  Lie  low,  Cus- 
ter, lie  low !" 

Occasionally  we  went  to  the  train  to  see  excursion- 
ists who  had  telegraphed  us  to  meet  them.  The  offi- 
cers were  all  of  them  more  than  strict  in  their  injunc- 
tions to  us  to  look  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left  in 
the  town,  and  as  they  shut  us  in  behind  the  closed  cur- 
tains of  the  travelling-carriage  they  called  out,  laugh- 
ingly, but  nevertheless  in  earnest,  "  No  peeking,  now." 


160  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

The  driver  had  his  loaded  carbine  beside  him,  and  lis- 
tened attentively  to  some  whispered  instructions  as  he 
took  up  his  reins.  He  was  told,  in  addition,  to  draw 
up  at  the  depot  on  the  side  farthest  from  the  town, 
where  our  escort,  having  ridden  beside  the  wagon,  lift- 
ed us  down  and  hurried  us  out  of  what  seemed  like  a 
"  Black  Maria,"  it  was  so  dismal  in  the  carriage,  and 
we  were  taken  into  the  station,  where  the  crowd  was 
kept  away  by  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  officers' 
manner.  One  of  the  guests  did  "peek"  through,  and 
seeing  the  tables  in  the  saloons  with  heaps  of  money, 
guarded  by  knives  and  revolvers,  she  was  frightened 
into  never  looking  again. 

In  one  of  these  excursion  parties  were  some  of  our 
Eastern  acquaintances,  and  they  begged  to  see  Wild 
Eill.  They  sent  the  brakeman  into  the  little  street  to 
ask  him  to  come  in,  and  they  gave  flowers  to  any  by- 
stander whom  they  saw,  requesting  that  they  be  given 
to  the  renowned  scout.  But  the  more  he  was  pursued 
with  messages  the  more  he  retired  from  sight,  hiding 
in  the  little  back  room  of  one  of  the  drinking-saloons 
opposite.  He  was  really  a  very  modest  man  and  very 
free  from  swagger  and  bravado.  Finally,  General  Cus- 
ter, persuaded  by  pretty  girls,  whom  no  one  ever  can 
resist,  returned  with  the  hero  of  the  hour,  for  Wild 
Bill  and  General  Custer  were  fast  friends,  having  faced 
danger  together  many  times. 

Bill's  face  was  confused  at  the  words  of  praise  with 
which  General  Custer  introduced  him,  and  his  fearless 
eyes  were  cast  down  in  chagrin  at  the  torture  of  being 


WILD   BILL   AS   A   MAGISTRATE.  161 

gazed  at  by  the  crowd.  He  went  through  the  en- 
forced introduction  for  General  Custer's  sake,  but  it 
was  a  relief  when  the  engine  whistle  sounded  that  re- 
leased him. 

Physically,  he  was  a  delight  to  look  upon.  Tall, 
lithe,  and  free  in  every  motion,  he  rode  and  walked  as 
if  every  muscle  was  perfection,  and  the  careless  swing 
of  his  body  as  he  moved  seemed  perfectly  in  keeping 
with  the  man,  the  country,  the  time  in  which  he  lived. 
I  do  not  recall  anything  finer  in  the  way  of  physi- 
cal perfection  than  Wild  Bill  when  he  swung  himself 
lightly  from  his  saddle,  and  with  graceful,  swaying 
step,  squarely  set  shoulders  and  well  poised  head,  ap- 
proached our  tent  for  orders.  He  was  rather  fantasti- 
cally clad,  of  course,  but  all  that  seemed  perfectly  in 
keeping  with  the  time  and  place.  He  did  not  make  an 
armory  of  his  waist,  but  carried  two  pistols.  He  wore 
top-boots,  riding  breeches,  and  dark-blue  flannel  shirt, 
with  scarlet  set  in  the  front.  A  loose  neck-handker- 
chief left  his  fine  firm  throat  free.  I  do  not  at  all  re- 
member his  features,  but  the  frank,  manly  expression 
of  his  fearless  eyes  and  his  courteous  manner  gave  one 
a  feeling  of  confidence  in  his  word  and  in  his  undaunt- 
ed courage. 

There  was  no  question  that  in  the  affrays  in  which 
he  was  often  engaged  he  dealt  murderous  blows  and 
shot  unerring  bullets ;  and  one  of  the  stories  others  told 
of  him,  as  he  was  not  given  to  boasting  of  his  prowess, 
was  of  the  invasion  of  five  men  in  his  sleeping-room  in 
one  of  the  new  towns,  where  no  law  was  established. 
11 


162  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

These  desperate  characters  locked  the  door,  but  though 
Wild  Bill  was  in  bed  he  did  not  lose  his  presence  of 
mind.  Some  one  hearing  the  noise  of  the  contest 
burst  open  the  door,  and  found  four  of  the  assailants 
dead  on  the  floor,  and  Wild  Bill  stretched  fainting  on 
the  bed  across  the  dead  body  of  the  fifth  assassin.  His 
appearance  bore  no  traces  of  this  desperate  side  of  his 
life.  He  was  "the  mildest  manner'd  man  that  ever 
scuttled  ship  or  cut  a  throat."  While  on  duty,  carry- 
ing despatches,  he  let  no  temptation  lure  him  into  the 
company  of  the  carousers  who  acknowledged  him  as 
their  king.  His  word  was  law  and  gospel  in  that  lit- 
tle town,  for  even  where  no  laws  are  respected  the 
word  and  the  will  of  one  man,  who  is  chosen  leader,  is 
often  absolute. 

The  impression  left  upon  my  mind  by  the  scouts 
of  which  Wild  Bill  was  the  chief  was  of  their  extreme 
grace.  Their  muscles  were  like  steel,  but  they  might 
have  been  velvet,  so  smooth  and  flexible  seemed  every 
movement.  Wild  Bill  reminded  me  of  a  thorough-bred 
horse.  Uncertain  as  was  his  origin,  he  looked  as  if  he 
had  descended  from  a  race  who  valued  the  body  as  a 
choice  possession,  and  therefore  gave  it  every  care. 
He  not  only  looked  like  a  thorough-bred,  but  like  a 
racer,  for  he  seemed,  even  in  repose,  to  give  evidence 
of  great  capabilities  of  endurance — of  fine  "staying 
powers,"  in  his  own  vernacular.  The  days  of  the 
Greeks  are  slowly  returning  to  us,  when  the  human 
form  will  be  so  cared  for  that  no  development  it  is  ca- 
pable of  will  be  neglected.     Among  the  white  aborig- 


WILD  BILL   AS   A  MAGISTRATE.  163 

ines  of  the  plains,  the  frontiersmen  and  scouts,  there 
have  long  existed  fine  specimens  of  physical  develop- 
ment that  one  seldom  encounters  among  people  who 
live  an  in-door  life. 

When  not  in  camp,  Wild  Bill  was  off  duty,  and  con- 
sequently ruling  his  realm,  the  turbulent  town.  Some 
of  our  men  having  received,  as  they  considered,  a  dead- 
ly insult  to  their  company,  determined  to  right  their 
wrongs,  and  planned  to  assassinate  the  renowned  scout. 
In  these  feuds  there  was  very  little  margin  for  the 
right  on  either  side.  In  our  ranks  were  just  as  law- 
less men  as  were  found  in  Hays  City,  but  the  strict 
discipline  of  military  life  soon  subdues  the  most  vio- 
lent spirits.  In  the  town,  however,  with  restraints  re- 
moved, the  bluff  and  the  bully  showed  forth  in  his  true 
colors.  A  little  of  the  very  bad  liquor  sold  there  turn- 
ed an  obedient  soldier  into  a  wrangling  boor.  Three 
desperate  characters,  planning  to  kill  Wild  Bill,  de- 
cided that  no  one  of  them  stood  any  chance  if  the 
scout  was  left  the  use  of  his  arms ;  not  only  was  his 
every  shot  sure,  but  he  was  so  lithe  and  quick,  and  so 
constantly  on  the  alert  for  attack,  that  it  was  next  to 
impossible  to  do  him  any  injury.  It  was  planned  that 
one  soldier  should  leap  upon  his  back,  and  hold  down 
his  head  and  chest,  while  another  should  pinion  his 
arms.  It  is  impossible  in  the  crowded  little  dens,  im- 
perfectly lighted,  and  with  air  dense  with  smoke,  al- 
ways to  face  a  foe.  Wild  Bill  was  attacked  from  be- 
hind, as  had  been  planned.  His  broad  back  was  borne 
down  by  a  powerful  soldier,  and  his  arms  seized,  but 


164  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

only  one  was  held  in  the  clinching  grasp  of  the  assail- 
ant. With  the  free  hand  the  scout  drew  his  pistol 
from  the  belt,  fired  backward  without  seeing,  and  his 
shot,  even  under  these  circumstances,  was  a  fatal  one. 
The  soldier  dropped  dead,  the  citizens  rallied  round 
Wild  Bill,  the  troopers  were  driven  out  of  the  town, 
but  not  without  loud  threats  of  vengeance.  There  was 
no  question  among  the  citizens  but  that  every  threat 
would  be  carried  out,  and  it  was  decided  that  if  Wild 
Bill  hoped  for  life  at  all  he  must  flee.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  General  Custer  to  interfere  in  such  a  contest. 
His  jurisdiction  did  not  extend  to  the  brawls  of  the 
town ;  the  soldiers  off  duty  were  not  punished,  unless 
the  citizens  found  something  so  flagrant,  and  proof  of 
the  dereliction  so  positive,  that  the  offence  must  be  in- 
vestigated by  a  court-martial. 

So  Wild  Bill,  the  most  daring  and  valuable  scout  in 
the  West,  had  to  leave.  I  have  heard  General  Custer 
say  that  he  did  not  believe  the  scout  ever  shot  a  man 
except  in  self-defence;  but  no  one  who  mingled  in 
such  mMees,  where  infuriated  mobs  of  men  followed 
every  savage  impulse  of  their  nature,  could  possibly 
hope  for  justice.  The  regiment  heard  with  regret  of 
his  being  murdered  afterwards  in  the  Black  Hills.  A 
man  whose  brother  had  been  shot  in  an  affray  in  which 
Wild  Bill  had  been  a  participant  followed  him  into 
the  Black  Hills,  and  finding  him  sitting  at  table  with 
his  companions,  the  miners,  shot  him  in  the  back.  With 
his  marvellous  coolness,  courage,  and  self-control,  above 
all,  with  that  rare  gift  which  is  given  to  few,  compara- 


THE  SCOUT. 


WILD  BILL   AS   A  MAGISTRATE.  165 

tively,  of  control  over  men — doubly,  trebly  remarkable 
when  exercised  over  outlaws — with  a  nature  that  evi- 
dently was  not  devoid  of  refinement  (for  he  was  singu- 
larly free,  the  officers  told  me,  from  profanity  or  coarse 
ribald  language),  his  seemed  to  all  of  us  as  conspicuous 
an  instance  of  wasted  life  as  we  had  ever  known.  A 
nature  trained  in  such  a  career  as  his  was,  however, 
could  never  have  submitted  itself  to  civilization,  and 
his  death  was  the  necessary  ending  of  such  a  life.  His 
grave,  on  a  bleak  hill-side,  bore  this  inseription : 

I.  B.  HICKOCK, 

("wild  bill,") 

KILLED  BY  THE  ASSASSIN  JACK  McCALL, 
July  4th,  18Y6. 

Pard,  we  shall  meet  again  in  the  happy  hunting-ground,  to  part  no  more. 

D.  H.  UTTER. 

("  COLORADO   CHARLIE.") 

It  seems  rather  singular  that  two  valued  scouts  like 
Wild  Bill  and  California  Joe  should  have  lost  their 
lives  during  the  same  summer  that  the  man  they  so 
faithfully  served  offered  up  his  life  for  his  country. 
We  had  no  letters  from  Wild  Bill ;  but  he  sent  friend- 
ly messages  by  many  a  roundabout  route.  California 
Joe  wrote  several  letters,  the  last  of  which  is  given  as 
characteristic  of  himself.  The  "counsil  house,"  we 
inferred,  alluded  to  the  State  legislature. 

SiERE  Nevada  Mountians  California  Mar.  16  74 
Dear  Geneal  after  my  respets  to  you  and  Lady  i  thought 
that  i  tell  you  that  i  am  still  on  top  of  land  yet  i  have  been 
in  the  rocky  mountian  the  most  of  the  time  sence  last  i  seen 


166  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

you  but  i  got  on  the  railroad  and  and  started  west  and  the 
first  thing  i  knew  i  landed  in  san  Francisco  so  i  could  not  go 
any  farther  except  going  by  water  and  salt  water  at  that  so 
i  turned  back  and  headed  for  the  mountains  once  more  re- 
solved never  to  go  railroading  no  more  i  drifted  up  with  the 
tide  to  Sacramento  city  and  i  landed  my  boat  so  i  took  up 
through  town  they  say  there  is  20  thousand  people  living 
there  but  it  look  to  me  to  be  100  thousand  counting  china- 
man and  all  i  cant  discribe  my  wolfish  feeling  but  i  think 
that  i  look  just  like  i  did  when  we  was  chaseing  Buffalo  on 
the  simarone  so  i  struk  up  though  town  and  i  come  to  a 
large  fine  builing  crouded  with  people  so  i  bulged  in  to  see 
what  was  going  on  and  when  i  got  in  to  the  counsil  house  i 
took  a  look  around  at  the  croud  and  i  seen  the  most  of  them 
had  bald  heads  so  i  thaught  to  myself  i  struck  it  now  that 
they  are  indian  peace  commissioners  so  i  look  to  see  if  i 
would  know  any  of  them  but  not  one,  so  after  while  the 
smartest  look  one  got  up  and  said  gentlemen  i  introduce  a 
bill  to  have  speckle  mountain  trout  and  fish  eggs  imported 
to  Cal.  to  be  put  in  the  american  Bear  and  Yuba  rivers  (those 
rivers  is  so  muddy  that  a  tadpole  could  not  live  in  them 
caused  by  minging)  did  any  body  ever  hear  of  a  speckle 
trout  living  in  muddy  water  and  the  next  thing  was  the  game 
law  and  that  was  very  near  as  bad  as  the  Fish  for  they  aint 
no  game  in  the  country  as  big  as  mawking  bird  i  heard 
some  fellow  behind  me  ask  now  long  is  the  legislature  been 
in  sesion  then  i  dropt  on  myself  so  i  slid  out  took  acros 
to  Chinatown  and  they  smelt  like  a  Ciowa  camp  in  August 
with  plenty  buffalo  meat  around  it  was  getting  late  so  no 
place  to  go  not  got  a  red  cent  so  i  hapen  to  thing  of  an  old 
friend  back  of  town  that  i  knowed  25  years  ago  so  i  lit  out 
and  sure  enough  he  was  thar  just  as  i  left  him  25  yr  ago 
backing  so  i  got  a  few  seads  i  going  to  platte  in  a  few  day 
give  my  respects  to  the  '7th  Calvery  and  excipt  the  same 
yourself  California  Joe 


WILD   BILL   AS   A  MAGISTRATE.  167 

A  little  journey  we  made  that  summer  comes  to  me 
now,  and  as  it  does  not  seem  at  all  like  any  travelling 
one  would  ever  be  likely  to  do  in  the  States,  an  ac- 
count of  it  is  offered  by  way  of  contrast.  A  great 
event  was  about  to  happen  to  the  Ousters.  The  fam- 
ily idol,  the  petted  mare,  was  to  run  a  race  at  Leaven- 
worth. There  was  incessant  gabble  in  the  tent,  and  it 
was  all  horse-talk.  The  past  records  of  other  famous 
animals  were  taken  out  for  inspection  ;  the  newspapers 
chronicling  the  feats  of  the  mare's  competitors  were 
spread  over  chairs  and  tables ;  the  men  who  had  seen 
races  talked  wisely  and  well,  and  everyone  was  on  tip- 
toe of  anticipation.  The  mare  I  dearly  loved.  She 
had  shared  our  hardships  with  us.  Once,  in  a  pro- 
longed cold  and  penetrating  storm.  General  Ouster 
had  brought  her  up  from  the  picket  line,  loaded  her 
with  blankets,  and  placed  her  under  our  fly.  I  peered 
at  her  from  the  opening  between  the  tapes  that  se- 
cured the  front  of  the  tent,  handed  out  sugar,  patted 
her  sleek  neck,  and  mourned  over  the  shivering  of  the 
chilled  and  delicate  creature.  General  Ouster  asked 
me  if  I  minded  her  being  there,  and  I  promptly  re- 
plied that  it  seemed  only  providential  that  horses  rare- 
ly lie  down,  or  I  knew  I  should  be  wheedled  into  offer- 
ing her  the  camp-bed. 

After  this  bitter  experience  she  was  sent  away  to 
better  quarters,  and  given  into  the  care  of  some  pro- 
fessional horseman,  who,  after  a  time,  wrote  that  he 
had  entered  her  for  a  race.  The  racing  part  I  hated, 
especially  on  a  public  course,  but  it  was  our  mare,  and 


168  FOLLOWESTG   THE   GUIDON. 

the  curse  seemed  somehow  to  be  taken  off.  Besides, 
we  had  nothing  to  do  with  it;  we  had  no  money  at 
stake,  and  Government  gave  us  too  much  to  do  to  per- 
mit us  to  dissuade  people  who  might  put  up  money 
on  our  mare.  We  had  but  three  or  four  days'  leave  of 
absence,  and  it  would  require  great  expedition  to  get 
back  at  its  expiration.  When  I  was  put  in  the  travel- 
ling-carriage the  curtains  were  all  strapped  down,  and 
the  driver  armed,  as  usual,  in  case  of  disturbance  in 
the  town.  I  went  through  the  usual  exhortations  from 
the  two  men — for  Colonel  Tom  was  going  with  us. 
They  made  a  rather  general  statement  that  women  are 
forever  trying  to  look  where  they  ought  not  to.  "  Now 
mind,  old  lady,  don't  you  try  to  look  out  if  there  is  a 
crevice  left  open.  The  town  is  nothing  but  a  medley 
of  disreputable  people,  and  we  don't  wish  you  to  see 
or  be  seen."  The  vehement  Ousters  poured  these  in- 
junctions in  on  me  like  hot  shot.  I  did  not "  look  "  ;  I 
was  so  glad  to  be  taken  along  on  this  rare  outing  that 
no  veteran  soldier  could  have  been  more  obedient. 

They  lifted  me  out  at  the  station  from  my  temporary 
prison,  and,  as  the  train  approached,  I  was  hurried  into 
the  car,  and  we  found  a  seat  among  the  usual  collec- 
tion of  armed  men,  whose  guns,  leaning  against  the 
backs  of  the  seats,  made  me  as  uncomfortable  as  pos- 
sible, for  I  was  very  much  afraid  of  fire-arms.  If  a 
fleeing  antelope  sped  over  the  plains  the  window  was 
shoved  violently  up,  out  went  a  rifle,  and  off  went  a 
bullet  that  was  simply  absurd  in  its  aim,  for  even  our 
best  hunters  found  it  difficult  to  bring  down  antelope 


-VVILD   BILL   AS   A   MAGISTRATE.  169 

under  what  were  considered  favorable  circuinstances. 
Peace  being  restored,  the  unsuccessful  marksman  was 
loudly  laughed  at  and  jeered  for  missing  his  aim. 
Suddenly  all  the  windows  on  one  side  went  up  with  a 
bang,  heads  were  thrust  out,  most  of  the  men  on  the 
other  side  of  the  car  plunged  over,  and  ran  their  rifles 
out  through  any  window  they  could  reach,  and  dan- 
gerously near  to  any  head  that  might  occupy  the 
opening ;  and  all  this  to  attack  a  prairie-dog  village. 

These  men  were  dressed  in  every  sort  of  costume, 
from  the  tattered  remains  of  what  were  once  tailor- 
made  clothes  to  buckskin  fashioned  by  their  own  fin- 
gers. They  were  ragged  and  unkempt  in  most  in- 
stances. Many  of  the  plainsmen  scorned  water  in  any 
form,  and  even  the  Texan's  definition,  when  offered  a 
glass  of  water,  "  Oh  yes,  that's  what  you  wash  with," 
was  lost  upon  the  real  Nimrod  of  the  West.  Still 
with  all  this  ignoring  of  the  "  tub  "  there  are  alleviat- 
ing circumstances.  An  exasperated  writer  speaks  of 
"inhaling  your  fellow-creature";  and  on  entering  a 
Pullman- car,  lately,  at  night,  I  heard  some  one  say, 
"  Here  are  all  breaths  of  our  brother  man,  carefully 
preserved  from  Chicago  to  New  York."  All  this  we 
were  spared,  for  in  the  West  we  seldom  found  our- 
selves packed  in  crowds,  as  happens  every  day  in  the 
city.  In  addition  to  the  soiled  clothing  of  the  foreign 
laborer,  next  which  you  sniff  and  shudder  in  the  horse- 
car,  you  have  the  additional  odors  of  sewer  gas,  stale 
beer  emptied  into  the  gutters,  a  leaking  gas-pipe,  and 
hundreds  of  cabbage  and  onion  dinners  sending  their 


170  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

domestic  incense  to  heaven.  All  this  one  escapes  on 
the  plains.  With  the  plainsman,  Nature  at  least  makes 
up  for  this  ignoring  of  one  element  by  blowing  an- 
other through  him,  and  sometimes  taking  him  in  a  lit- 
tle encircling  embrace,  or  touching  him  up  with  a 
small  hurricane  of  wind  which  dances  the  delinquent 
on  his  feet  and  airs  him  well,  nolens  volens. 

Our  soldiers  were  often  nearly  desperate  when  wa- 
ter was  scarce,  for  it  is  their  duty  first,  and  afterwards 
their  habit,  to  be  clean.  If  a  good  stream  was  reached, 
the  whole  command  was  sometimes  halted  for  a  day  on 
the  march  to  permit  the  enlisted  men  to  have  a  wash- 
day. When  water  was  scarce,  I  have  seen  a  buffalo- 
wallow  in  the  West  look  for  all  the  world  like  a  hea- 
then deity.  Around  the  circular  edge  knelt  as  many 
men  as  could  crowd  in,  dipping  their  canteens,  hollow- 
ing their  horny  hands  into  a  cup,  or  holding  their  caps 
in  the  shallow  pool  of  standing  water  that  owed  its 
storage-basin  to  the  gambols  of  the  buffalo.  After  tear- 
ing the  turf,  pawing  the  sod,  and  digging  his  horns 
in  the  ground,  the  buffalo  rolls  his  huge  body  in  the 
loosened  soil,  and  rubs  off  the  loose  hair  from  his  coat. 
When  he  is  shedding  he  is  a  tattered  old  tramp,  with 
flying  bunches  of  faded  hair  sticking  at  intervals 
among  the  new.  After  the  monster  has  rolled  himself 
free  from  his  last  year's  rags  he  leaves  quite  a  hollow 
in  the  ground.  The  rain  comes,  is  soon  dried  by  the 
scorching  sun,  and  the  basin  has  a  baked  surface  that 
holds  water  afterwards  for  many  a  parched  throat. 

As  our  journey  advanced,  blood-curdling  stories  were 


WILD   BILL    AS    A   MAGISTKATE.  171 

strung  out  with  no  end  of  ghastly  detail,  with  minute 
particulars  of  encounters  with  Indians,  game,  and  des- 
peradoes. I  could  not  help  but  hear,  and  I  saw  the 
frontiersmen  shyly  eying  me,  as  if  I  had  been  a  cu- 
riosity from  another  world ;  but  they  smoked  their 
pipes,  and  handed  round  the  inevitable  black  bottle 
out  on  the  platform,  instead  of  in  the  car,  for  my  sake ; 
but  the  talking,  the  boasting,  the  shooting — those  were 
their  best  manners,  under  any  circumstances,  and  they 
never  thought  to  suppress  a  detail.  The  bones  of  any 
brakemau  who  should  have  had  the  temerity  to  try  to 
subdue  these  reckless  characters  would  have  bleached 
on  the  plains  in  those  days.  The  mounds  along  the 
route  of  travel  to  the  Eocky  Mountains  were  not  al- 
ways raised  over  the  mouldering  bodies  of  exhausted 
pioneers ;  they  marked  the  spot  of  many  a  deadly  af- 
fray where  some  one  of  a  party  had  paid  the  penalty 
which  is  usually  attached  to  such  encounters. 

The  Kansas  Pacific  trains  did  not  run  at  night,  and 
we  were  compelled  to  stop  at  the  little  town  of  Ells- 
worth, if  possible,  even  worse  than  Hays  City.  There 
was  but  one  hotel,  and  that  not  worthy  of  the  name. 
The  building,  twenty  by  fifty  feet,  had  a  great  loft, 
low  and  close,  where  cots  were  as  thick  as  they  could 
stand.  One  narrow  room  was  boarded  off,  and  to  this 
we  were  assigned.  As  the  house  was  unplastered, 
and  built  mostly  of  canvas  and  slabs,  the  Kansas  wind 
waved  it  about  at  will.  The  one  large  room  on  the 
ground-floor  had  the  bar  and  billiard-table  at  one  end, 
and  the  tables  for  dining  at  the  other.     We  were,  of 


172  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

course,  hungry,  and  the  crowd  of  drinking,  smoking 
brawlers  was  kept  in  some  sort  of  subjection  by  the 
landlord,  who  mentioned  the  talismanic  name  of  lady 
to  quiet  them.  It  was  unusual  for  them  to  see  any 
one  save  themselves  on  their  ground.  After  a  hasty 
dinner  —  and  such  a  dinner!  —  only  people  savagely 
hungry,  as  we  were,  could  have  eaten  it  at  all — I  was 
hurried  up  to  the  little  den  of  which  the  landlord  was 
extremely  proud.  The  noise  below  going  on  till  dawn, 
the  snoring  heard  through  the  thin  partition  that  sep- 
arated us  from  the  lodgers,  the  ominous  vibration  of 
the  rickety  old  building — all  helped  to  murder  sleep 
for  us. 

The  frontiersman  had  then,  as  now,  a  great  "  de- 
spise," as  they  put  it,  for  the  tenderfoot,  and  a  party 
of  buffalo  -  hunters,  who  had  stopped  at  this  hotel  a 
short  time  before,  were  the  subjects  of  much  derision 
and  criticism.  One  of  the  men  had  insisted  upon  wear- 
ing a  "stove-pipe"  hat  from  the  East — which,  to  say 
the  least,  was  inappropriate,  and  attracted  almost  as 
much  attention  as  if  he  had  worn  a  French  bonnet. 
The  frontiersmen  scoffed  and  jeered  at  this  offending 
hat,  discussed  the  "  biled  shirts,"  and  viewed  the  whole 
party  with  lofty  scorn. 

The  tourists  did  not  look  much  like  the  active  mus- 
cular hunter,  without  an  ounce  of  superfluous  flesh, 
who  could  ride  flfty  miles  as  easily  as  most  people  do 
^ve.  Two  of  the  party  were  over  size,  and  had  the 
contour  which  betokens  good  dinners  and  convivial 
life.     One  of  the  number  was  inclined  to  match  a  lit- 


WILD  BILL   AS   A   MAGISTRATE.  173 

tie  Eastern  swagger  with  Western  bravado,  by  telling 
with  pride  where  they  were  going,  and  what  they  ex- 
pected to  do,  etc.  A  burly  border  ruffian  raised  his 
voice  in  the  crowd  that  surrounded  the  would-be  Nim- 
rods,  and  said,  "  You  uns  is  the  folks  General  Custer 
is  expectin'  ?"  "  Yes,"  promptly  answered  our  friends, 
exultant,  and  sure  no  game  would  escape  them.  Emp- 
tying one  cheek  to  transfer  the  quid  of  tobacco  to  the 
other,  the  latter  jaw  evidently  not  being  the  better  talk- 
ing side,  the  frontiersman  looked  at  these  huge  men 
with  half-closed,  sarcastic  eyes,  and  said,  "  Stranger, 
I  was  at  Custer's  camp  on  Saturday,  and  he  was  awful 
busy  a-preparing."  *'What  was  he  doing?"  asked  the 
eager  tourists.  "  Why,  stranger,  he  had  men  out  all 
the  week  a-corrallin'  buffaloes  for  you  fellows  to  kill." 
The  point  of  the  retort  is  lost  unless  one  knows  that 
wild  buffaloes  are  not  the  animals  that  submit  tamely 
to  corralling. 

A  family  discussion  took  place,  after  we  reached  our 
room  in  the  loft,  about  what  to  do  with  our  brother 
Tom.  All  the  cots  outside  were  engaged,  and  had  a 
roll  of  blankets  been  available  everything  would  have 
gone  well,  for  Tom  could  sleep  anywhere.  As  it  was, 
we  decided  to  take  him  in,  as  there  was  an  extra  bed 
in  our  narrow  room.  We  went  in  first,  prepared  for 
sleeping,  put  out  the  light,  and  called  to  Colonel  Tom. 
He  came  for  the  place  gratefully — for,  with  all  our 
vicissitudes,  we  nearly  always  had  a  tent  to  ourselves, 
and  whole  families  were  not  obliged  to  live  in  one 
room,  as  in  a  tenement.    Tom  praised  me ;  thought  I 


174  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

not  only  remembered  when  in  "  Kome  to  be  a  Eoman," 
but,  since  I  had  been  willing  to  take  him  in,  it  was  his 
opinion  I  was  the  "  noblest  Koman  of  them  all ";  and 
then  he  dropped  to  sleep,  soon  to  wake  with  a  start, 
thinking  the  brawlers  down -stairs  had  ascended  to 
make  an  attack.  It  was  only  his  affectionate  brother, 
who,  from  time  to  time,  threw  over  on  his  bed,  with 
such  accurate  aim  that  each  shot  told,  shoes,  stockings, 
brushes,  and  any  other  available  missile.  It  hardly  seem- 
ed a  breath  before  the  voice  of  the  landlord  woke  us, 
sajung  that  some  one  had  forgotten  to  call  us ;  that  it 
was  late,  and  we  must  hurry,  as  the  train  was  nearly 
ready.  Tom  rose  first,  and  dressed  partly  in  the  dark, 
for  the  one  train  of  the  day  started  at  dawn.  The  land- 
lord came  again,  saying  the  conductor  was  holding  the 
train.  As  the  road  depended  upon  the  Seventh  Cav- 
alry to  protect  it,  there  was  no  lack  of  courtesy  to  the 
commanding  officer.  He  did  not  wish  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  any  such  favor,  so  Colonel  Tom  was  hur- 
ried with  half  his  clothes  to  dress  in  the  dark  passage- 
way, and  on  me  fell  the  whole  responsibility  of  the 
day,  for  if  I  w^as  late  we  would  miss  the  coming  sport. 
In  moments  of  excitement  the  two  men  always  talked 
as  if  I  were  not  present.  "  What  shall  we  do  with  the 
old  lady?"  (this  name  was  given  me  by  these  young- 
sters when  I  first  began  to  write  myself  Mrs.).  "  Can't 
we  bundle  her  up  and  carry  her?"  "Will  you  go  as 
you  are  ?"  General  Custer  said,  turning  to  me  at  last. 
"  If  you  say  so,  I  can  go,"  I  replied.  It  would  not  take 
a  paragraph  to  describe  my  toilet  as  far  as  I  had  ad- 


WILD  BILL   AS   A  MAGI8TKATE.  175 

vanced.  I  thrust  my  feet  into  my  shoes,  General  Cus- 
ter threw  my  large  travelling  -  cloak  about  me,  Tom 
seized  the  hand-bags  and  a  heap  of  my  clothing,  and 
down  the  rickety  steps  we  sprang,  across  the  little 
space  between  the  hotel  and  the  cars,  I  not  daring  to 
look  to  the  right  or  left  among  the  usual  crowd  of 
idlers  who  surround  all  stations.  I  was  lifted  into  the 
car,  hurried  into  one  corner,  and  the  two  began  to  plan 
about  me  again.  This  sounds  as  if  I  had  no  voice  in 
the  discussions,  but  that  is  giving  too  modest  a  rep- 
resentation, for  I  did  my  share ;  but  I  only  refer  to  it 
as  a  droll  way  the  two  men  had  of  going  on  talking 
and  arranging  regardless  of  my  vote.  They  decided  that 
the  fast  -  approaching  day  necessitated  my  being  clad 
more  fully  than  I  then  was ;  so  one  said  he  would  hold 
up  the  travelling-cloak  while  the  other  buttoned  my 
shoes  and  helped  put  on  the  tumbled  mass  of  apparel 
that  was  to  make  me  presentable.  Between  the  hurry, 
the  laughter,  and  the  embarrassment,  no  button  would 
button,  no  hook  would  fasten,  but  the  cloak  was  low- 
ered at  last,  and  I  looked  out  of  the  window  most  of 
the  time,  preferring  the  monotonous  scenery  to  any 
chance  glance  I  might  encounter  from  what  I  feared 
would  be  the  amused  eyes  of  the  people. 

At  Leavenworth  we  had  just  time  to  make  our  toi- 
let, get  something  to  eat,  and  take  a  carriage  for  the 
race-course.  We  went,  of  course,  to  the  stall  of  the 
family  idol.  The  mare  was  sleeker,  finer,  more  lovely 
than  ever.  She  knew  us,  and  vibrated  her  delicate  ears, 
whinnied,  and  arched  her  glossy  neck  in  pride  and  love. 


176  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

Colonel  Tom  reminded  her  of  some  of  his  past  encoun- 
ters, and  of  his  very  first  ride,  when  saddle,  bridle,  and 
man  were  gracefully  lifted  over  her  head  and  dropped 
at  her  feet.  It  had  been  a  family  riddle  ever  since, 
how  even  such  an  agile  creature  as  she  could  shed  ev- 
ery trapping,  and  the  rider  as  well,  with  one  flourish 
of  her  nimble  heels.  Colonel  Tom  took  occasion  to  re- 
mind me  of  the  noble  sacrifice  I  had  been  willing  to 
make  of  my  husband's  relatives.  It  seems  that  when  we 
first  had  the  mare,  she  reared  and  plunged  with  such 
violence,  gave  such  agile  leaps  from  one  side  to  the 
other,  that  I,  with  tears  of  terror  streaming  down  my 
face,  had  called  to  General  Custer,  "  Don't,  don't  mount 
the  dangerous  creature,  let  the  bachelor  officers  try  her 
first."  The  men  without  wives  heard  me,  and  as  they 
valued  their  lives  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
single,  I  never  heard  the  last  of  it. 

The  adulation  which  the  slender,  beautifully  propor- 
tioned creature  had  from  the  whole  regiment  was  de- 
lightful to  us.  We  frequently  stood  about  her  noting 
her  fine  points,  and  assenting  with  responsive  nods  to 
any  new  beauty  discovered.  One  of  the  pretty  girls  we 
entertained  was  somewhat  discomfited  one  day  when  a 
group  had  gathered  around  the  mare.  Her  boy  brother, 
in  rapt  admiration,  called  out,  "  Why,  sister,  her  ankles 
are  as  small  as  yours."  The  blushing  girl  sank  down 
into  her  petticoats,  fearing  the  rude  and  daring  Kansas 
wind  would  try  to  indorse  her  brother's  praise  by  lift- 
ing the  concealed  drapery. 

I  haven't  the  least  idea  how  the  race  at  Leavenworth 


WILD   BILL   AS    A   MAGISTRATE.  177 

turned  out ;  I  only  know  that  had  the  mare  been  beaten, 
her  admiring  owners  would  have  been  certain  that  it 
was  due  to  every  other  cause  than  that  there  was  in 
existence  a  faster,  finer  horse  than  our  beloved  prop- 
erty. 
12 


XLo  tbe  Color. 


_^:p:Mi_ 


^ ^-^—MZ=ft 


?=F=a 


El 


t-    i  "J  f- 


i 


E^^^ti 


-^-!-^- 


^i^ 

_^^^^ 


^H— ^.# 


End. 


^22 ^_#_«-#_^. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 


HOME   OF   THE   BUFFALO. 


The  buffaloes  were  in  such  enormous  herds  all  about 
us  in  Kansas  that  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  could  dimin- 
ish their  numbers.  General  Sherman  told  me,  not  long 
since,  that  from  the  time  we  were  there  until  the  date 
of  their  almost  total  annihilation  nine  millions  had  been 
killed.  After  the  Pacific  railroads  were  completed  the 
Indian  was  partially  subdued,  and  civilization  spread 
along  the  routes  of  travel ;  the  frontiersmen  were  more 
daring,  and  buffalo-hunting  became  a  slaughter.  The 
skin-hunters  carried  on  a  great  traffic.  Wherever  the 
steamers  stopped  to  wood  along  the  Missouri  the  river 
was  lined  with  heaps  of  hides,  tied  in  bales  ready  for 


HOME  OF  THE  BUFFALO.  179 

shipment.  At  the  railroad  stations  in  Kansas  the  same 
thing  was  true.  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
liides  were  shipped  from  one  station  on  the  Atchison, 
Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  road  about  18Y4.  The  skin- 
hunters  used  this  plan :  One  of  the  number  still-hunted, 
singling  out  his  animal,  and  firing  at  long  range  so  that 
the  sound  of  the  bullet  did  not  disturb  the  herd.  The 
smell  of  the  blood  drew  perhaps  twenty  about  the  slain 
animal,  and  the  hunter  fired  at  them  from  behind  the 
carcass,  where  he  had  hidden  himself  on  coming  up  to 
his  dead  game.  The  rest  of  the  party  skinned  the  car- 
casses, and  then  proceeded  to  follow  up  the  herd.  One 
man,  an  expert,  has  thus  shot  over  a  hundred  in  a  day. 
The  bones  were  gathered  and  shipped  East  also.  In 
this  systematic  killing  it  is  no  wonder  that  great  num- 
bers disappeared,  and  that  now  only  a  small  herd  in 
tlie  Black  Hills  is  reported  in  existence.  While  we 
were  in  Kansas  the  Indians  were  on  the  war-path,  and 
no  men  were  sufficiently  daring  in  the  pursuit  of  pelf 
to  make  hunting  a  business.  The  fearful  destruction 
of  buffaloes  seems  to  cause  national  regret ;  and  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  according  to  the  theory  of  Mr. 
Theodore  Koosevelt,  who  is  an  authority  on  Western 
matters,  nothing  has  done  more  to  settle  the  Indian 
question.  He  does  not  detract  from  our  army,  and 
its  patient  service  for  so  many  years,  but  less  than 
twenty-five  thousand  men  to  guard  our  immense  fron- 
tier could  do  little  more  than  protect  the  settlers,  and 
guard  the  builders  of  the  railroads.  It  was  a  grief  to 
lay  waste  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  and 


180  FOLLOWmQ  THE   GUIDON. 

destroy  that  garden  of  the  South,  thus  cutting  o£E  the 
source  of  fruitful  supplies  for  General  Lee's  army,  and 
yet,  here  again,  it  shortened  our  war  and  saved  thou- 
sands of  valiant  men.  General  Miles  differs  from  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  and  thinks  that  were  not  the  Indians  sub- 
dued by  our  army  nothing  would  keep  them  from  the 
war-path,  as  they  would  not  hesitate  to  kill  the  cattle 
on  the  ranches  which  now  replace  the  buffaloes.  The 
Cheyennes,  in  a  raid  from  the  Indian  Territory  to  Mon- 
tana, did  live  on  the  cattle  of  the  ranchmen  for  the 
entire  distance. 

All  the  wide  plains  about  us  for  hundreds  of  miles — 
and  thousands,  for  aught  I  know — were  stamped  with 
the  presence  of  the  American  bison.  Innumerable 
proofs  that  they  had  long  been  monarchs  in  that  great 
desert  were  encountered  on  our  long  marches,  no  mat- 
ter in  what  direction  we  moved.  No  other  animal  im- 
pressed itself  so  on  the  land  as  to  have  its  trail  become 
a  feature  of  the  vast  country.  The  most  noticeable  of 
these  evidences  of  their  presence  were  the  intermina- 
ble trails  to  the  streams.  Many  a  desert  mariner,  guid- 
ing his  canvas-covered  wagon  across  the  trackless  West- 
ern sea  of  prairie  to  the  El  Dorado  of  America,  has 
saved  his  life  by  following  these  unfailing  guides. 
The  ruts  were  sometimes  in  four  parallel  lines,  and  so 
deeply  cut  by  the  huge  monsters  that  patiently  plod- 
ded through  them  that  we  often  had  to  check  our 
horses  to  cross  safely.  The  narrowness  of  these  paths 
— ^for  they  were  not  much  wider  than  the  impression 
of  a  cart-wheel — was  a  surprise,  until  I  saw  how  closely. 


HOME   OF   THE   BUFFALO.  181 

liow  evenly  each  hoof  seemed  to  replace  the  other 
as  the  steady  march  went  on.  We  learned  very  soon 
that  we  need  not  count  on  finding  a  stream  near,  by 
following  the  trail,  unless  it  was  by  some  rare  chance, 
if  in  hunting  it  became  necessary  to  give  the  horses 
and  dogs  water.  It  might  be  a  journey  of  hours — for 
with  a  buffalo  what  was  time  ?  He  lived  but  to  eat 
and  drink.  There  was  never  the  wild,  exultant  run  of 
deer  or  antelope,  which  flew  over  the  plains  apparently 
from  joy  and  excess  of  animal  life.  The  solemn,  prac- 
tical existence  of  the  lumbering  buffalo  seemed  to  have 
begun  before  calfdom  was  fairly  over. 

It  is  true  there  was  much  fighting  for  supremacy 
and  leadership,  and  the  heartless  conduct  towards  the 
old  bachelors  of  the  herd  is  well  known.  When  they 
showed  signs  of  antiquity,  the  stronger,  younger  bulls 
drove  the  enfeebled  ones  out  into  a  dreary  existence, 
which,  happily  for  them,  was  soon  ended  by  the  wolves 
that  pursued  the  solitary  tramp  until  exhaustion  gave 
him  up  a  prey  to  those  persistent  followers.  Occasion- 
ally several  of  the  outcasts  from  the  different  herds 
evidently  met,  even  in  that  vast  extent  of  country, 
and,  exchanging  their  grievances,  concluded  to  join 
forces  and  defy  their  joint  enemy,  the  wolves.  With 
us,  unaccustomed  that  summer  to  the  habits  of  the 
buffalo,  the  sight  of  a  single  animal  browsing,  appar- 
ently contentedly,  augured  an  approaching  herd ;  and 
great  was  our  disappointment,  when  the  antediluvian 
was  allowed  to  gallop  off  at  sight  of  us  and  escape,  to 
find  that  he  was  not  the  forerunner  of  a  herd,  but  only 


182  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

an  animal  in  disgrace  because  the  gods  did  not  love  him 
enough  to  decree  that  he  should  die  young. 

Many  combats  occurred  among  the  bulls  of  the  herd 
because  two  selected  the  same  cow  for  a  wife,  and  the 
painter  who  could  have  fixed  these  monsters  on  his 
canvas  while  they  were  raging  with  the  fierceness  of 
rivalry  would  have  made  his  mark.  The  heads  bent 
forward  to  the  ground  in  attempts  to  gore  each  other, 
the  burning  eyeballs,  the  desperate  plunges  which  they 
made,  apparently  oblivious  of  their  great  weight,  the 
turf  torn  with  their  maddened  hoofs,  the  air  thick  with 
dust  and  bits  of  loosened  sod,  the  temporary  retreats 
of  the  contestants  only  to  enable  them  to  rush  at  one 
another  with  renewed  force,  afforded  the  most  mag- 
nificent example  of  jealous  iury.  Meanwhile  the  cow 
over  which  this  war  was  waged  quietly  browsed  near 
by.  When  domestic  life  began,  the  winner  of  the  hard- 
fought  battle  became  a  very  good  defender  of  his  fam- 
ily. In  the  great  herds  the  cows  were  always  in  the 
centre,  and  a  cordon  of  bulls  surrounded  them  and 
their  young,  while  outside  them  all  were  the  pickets, 
which  kept  watch,  and  whose  warnings  were  heeded  at 
once  if  dangei*  threatened. 

The  circles,  perhaps  fifteen  feet  in  circumference, 
that  I  saw  for  the  first  time,  were  one  of  the  mysteries 
of  that  strange  land.  When  the  officers  told  me  that  the 
rut  was  made  by  the  buffalo  mother's  walking  round 
and  round  to  protect  her  newly  born  and  sleeping  calf 
from  the  wolves  at  night,  I  listened  only  to  smile  in- 
credulously, with  the  look  peculiar  to  an  innocent  who 


HOME   OF  THE  BUFFALO.  183 

desires  to  convince  the  narrator  of  fables  that  he  has 
met  one  person  of  superior  intuition  who  cannot  be 
gulled.  I  had  been  so  often  "  guyed  "  with  ridiculous 
stories,  of  which  this  last  seemed  the  crowning  exam- 
ple, that  I  did  not  believe  the  tale.  In  time,  however, 
I  found  that  it  was  true,  and  I.  never  came  across  these 
pathetic  circles  in  our  rides  or  in  hunting  without  a 
sentiment  of  deepest  sympathy  for  the  anxious  mother 
whose  vigilance  kept  up  the  ceaseless  tramp  during  the 
long  night. 

The  calf  is  born  with  wonderful  strengtli  and  vitali- 
ty, and  soon  does  remarkable  feats  in  marching.  He  is 
quite  a  big  fellow  in  a  year,  but  keeps  on  growing  un- 
til he  is  seven.  We  always  waited  quietly  for  develop- 
ments, and  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  let  the 
stranger  try,  when  a  guest  said,  "  I  shall  begin  on  the 
first  day's  hunt  with  a  calf,  for  practice."  He  never 
tried  again,  for  a  yearling  will  get  over  the  ground  so 
much  faster  than  his  elders,  which  weigh  perhaps  eight 
hundred  pounds,  that  one  chase  after  him  is  enough  to 
decide  the  novice  to  keep  to  the  larger  animals  if  he 
hopes  to  bring  down  game.  Before  the  war,  when  our 
officers  were  on  the  march  to  'New  Mexico,  they  used 
to  pass  a  ranch  kept  by  two  men,  Booth  and  Allison, 
at  Walnut  Creek,  on  the  Santa  Fe  trail.  The  ranch- 
men had  devised  a  plan  to  capture  buffalo  calves  which 
seems  inhuman,  but  is  nevertheless  true,  as  an  old  cam- 
paigner told  me  of  it.  When  a  herd  of  buffaloes  passed 
near  the  ranch,  the  cows  travelling  slowly  on  account  of 
their  young,  the  buffalo  bulls  guarding  their  families, 


184  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

the  hunters  rode  suddenly  into  the  herd,  caught  a  young 
calf  by  the  tail,  whirled  it  round  two  or  three  times  un- 
til the  little  thing  had  not  only  lost  its  bearings  but  its 
mother  also,  and  there  never  was  the  slightest  difficulty 
in  driving  the  calf  back  to  the  ranch,  where  it  grew  up 
with  the  domestic  cattle. 

The  spring  and  activity  of  the  largest  buffaloes  are 
marvellous:  One  day  General  Custer,  returning  from  a 
hunt,  called  me  to  the  tent-fly  to  see  his  favorite  horse 
Dandy.  He  was  so  quick,  strong,  and  intelligent  that 
he  was  accounted  as  good  a  bufEalo-horse  as  there  was  in 
the  regiment.  General  Custer  said  that  he  was  so  am- 
bitious that  as  soon  as  he  saw  which  animal  was  singled 
out  for  pursuit  he  bent  every  nerve  to  the  work.  When 
the  game  became  angry  Dandy  grew  more  wary,  and, 
leaping  to  tlie  right  and  left  to  escape  the  butting  horns, 
he  carried  his  master  so  near  that  the  side  of  the  buffa- 
lo was  almost  rubbed  in  passing.  Dandy  knew  that  the 
only  way  to  bring  an  animal  down  was  by  sending  the 
fatal  shot  behind  the  fore-shoulder,  so  he  darted  for  the 
side,  plunged  off  at  a  tangent  when  the  animal  wheeled, 
gathered  and  sprang  for  the  unguarded  quarter,  and  his 
master  had  to  exercise  vigilance  lest  through  the  ani- 
mal's ambition  both  he  and  Dandy  sliould  be  impaled 
on  the  wicked  horns  of  the  adversary.  The  bridle  did 
not  need  to  be  touched,  so  clever  was  the  horse  in  get- 
ting into  favorable  position  for  firing. 

One  day,  however — there  always  comes  a  "  one  day  " 
in  all  stories  of  adventure — Dandy  pursued  a  buffalo 
down  the  side  of  a  ravine,  where  the  footing  was  inse- 


HOME   OF   THE   BUFFALO.  185 

cure  and  narrow.  The  furious  beast,  raging  because  he 
was  followed  into  what  he  considered  a  fastness,  sud- 
denly wheeled,  and  before  horse  or  rider  could  escape 
or  even  tarn  General  Custer  felt  himself  poised  in  air. 
The  huge  animal  had  actually  lifted  both  man  and  beast 
on  his  strong  vicious  horns.  It  was  only  by  Dandy's 
sudden  leap  to  one  side,  and  the  coolness  of  both,  that 
General  Custer  and  his  favorite  gained  a  place  of  safe- 
ty, for  an  enraged  buffalo  is  not  a  safe  animal  to  en- 
counter, especially  with  all  odds  on  his  side.  When  I 
came  out  to  the  fly,  on  their  return  that  day.  Dandy 
had  a  hole  in  his  side,  where  one  horn  had  gored  him, 
while  the  thick  felt  saddle-cloth  was  cut  through  by  the 
other.  This  very  narrow  escape  had  no  effect  on  Dan- 
dy's nerves.  The  very  next  hunt  he  recognized  the 
animal  selected  for  game,  and  did  not  draw  breath  till 
he  had  darted  up  to  its  side,  when  he  slackened  to  en- 
able the  bullet  to  be  sent  home  to  the  vulnerable  spot. 
In  certain  places  the  cactus-beds  were  almost  con- 
tinuous for  miles,  and  it  required  great  patience  to  pick 
our  way  through  the  thorny  route.  Dandy  could  be  as 
patient  as  any  horse,  if  it  was  necessary,  but  when  soli- 
tary clumps  were  encountered  he  made  short  work  and 
leaped  them.  His  master,  knowing  this  little  playful- 
ness, was  rarely  unprepared ;  but  woe  be  to  the  guest 
to  whom  Dandy  was  lent  as  a  great  favor.  He  made 
so  sudden  and  unexpected  a  spring  that  the  rider  was 
apt  to  be  quickly  seated  either  on  the  crupper  or  astride 
Dandy's  neck ;  or,  worse  still,  impaled  in  the  very  cac- 
tus-bed that  Dandy  had  cleared. 


186  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

The  servant  of  one  of  our  surgeons,  a  negro  of  about 
fifteen,  bought  himself  a  bucking  pony,  as  he  was  too 
ambitious  to  ride  any  steady-going  animal.  He  de- 
lighted in  racing  his  animal  in  front  of  the  command, 
to  show  his  horsemanship,  and  being  a  negro,  and  droll, 
he  was  not  restrained  as  much  as  he  perhaps  deserved. 
Suddenly  he  came  upon  one  of  the  cactus -beds  that 
continue  for  miles,  not  in  masses  but  in  clumps,  through 
which  a  horse  can  pick  his  way  slowly  if  left  to  him- 
self. The  darky's  pony  knew  this  sort  of  ground  well, 
and  was  not  going  to  be  sent  galloping  into  such  a 
snare,  so  he  refused  to  go,  suddenly  settled  himself  on 
his  haunches,  and  sent  John  over  his  head,  landing  him 
squarely  on  his  back  in  the  cactus-bed.  The  thorns 
fairly  pinned  the  poor  fellow's  clothes  to  his  flesh.  He 
slowly  picked  himself  up,  even  the  hand  that  he  used 
to  false  himself  being  stuck  full  of  thorns,  and  strug- 
gled to  pull  off  his  coat,  exclaiming,  '^  Holy  Moses,  but 
ain't  them  jaggers !"  The  doctor  thought  so,  after 
spending  two  hours  extracting  the  thorns  from  John's 
lacerated  back ;  but  the  pointed  lesson  made  the  youth 
wary  of  racing  in  future. 

At  first  the  bleaching  bones  of  thousands  of  buffa- 
loes were  rather  a  melancholy  sight  to  me,  but  I  soon 
became  as  much  accustomed  to  the  ghastly  sockets  of 
an  upturned  skull  as  the  field-mouse  which  ran  in  and 
out  either  orifice  with  food  for  her  nest  of  little  ones  in- 
side. All  evidences  of  death  are  sad  to  a  woman.  The 
bones  were  often  very  old,  for  the  bone  collectors  did 
not  dare  carry  on  their  trafiic  at  that  dangerous  time; 


HOME   OF   THE   BUFFALO.  187 

and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  sadness  of  thinking  of  the 
death  of  these  naturally  peaceful  creatures  was  softened, 
as  it  is  when  one  goes  into  a  very  old  burying-ground, 
and  the  crumbling  stones,  covered  with  lichen,  prove 
that  the  hearts  that  once  bled  for  those  under  the  sod 
are  themselves  at  rest  beneath  some  grass-covered  spot 
elsewhere.  There  would  be  few  hunters  if  women  had 
to  be  the  Nimrods.  I  suppose  in  a  world  where  wom- 
an reigned  there  would  be  little  question  that,  unwill- 
ing to  kill  anything,  in  time  she  would  be  crowded  out 
by  the  animal  kingdom.  But  the  buffaloes  were  sin- 
gularly pitiful  prey  to  me.  They  fought  terribly  when 
brought  to  bay,  but  when  simply  startled  by  the  ene- 
my, they  ambled  off  as  if  saying,  "  See  here,  this  place 
is  surely  big  enough  for  all  of  us ;  we'll  get  out  of  the 
way."  Then  when  they  were  pursued,  and  the  herd 
broke  into  a  frightened  stampede,  my  heart  was  wrung 
with  sympathy,  especially  if  I  chanced  to  spy  calves. 
I  hardly  need  say  how  careful  the  officers  were  not  to 
shoot  the  cows.  The  reverence  for  motherhood  is  an 
instinct  that  is  seldom  absent  from  educated  men.  Be- 
sides, I  know  too  many  instances  in  proof  of  the  poet's 
words,  "the  bravest  are  the  tenderest."  Our  officers 
taught  the  coarsest  soldier,  in  time,  to  regard  maternity 
as  something  sacred. 

It  was  only  by  the  merest  chance  that  I  heard  some- 
thing of  the  gentleness  of  one  of  our  officers,  whose 
brave  heart  ceased  to  beat  on  the  battle-field  of  the 
Little  Big  Horn.  In  marching  on  a  scouting  expedi- 
tion one  day  he  went  in  advance  a  short  distance  with 


188  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

his  sergeant,  and  when  his  ten  men  caught  up  with 
him  he  found  that  they  had  shot  the  mothers  of  some 
young  antelopes  they  had  chased.  Captain  Yates,  in 
righteous  indignation  at  this  desecration  of  sacred 
rights,  ordered  the  men  to  return  to  the  young,  and 
each  take  a  baby  antelope  in  his  arms  and  care  for  it 
until  they  reached  the  post.  For  two  days  the  men 
marched  on,  bearing  the  tender  little  tilings,  cushion- 
ing them  as  best  they  could  in  their  folded  blouses. 
One  man  had  twins  to  look  out  for,  and  as  a  baby  an- 
telope is  all  legs  and  head,  this  squirming  collection  of 
tiny  hoofs  and  legs  stuck  out  from  all  sides  as  the  sol- 
dier guided  his  horse  as  best  he  could  with  one  hand, 
the  arm  of  which  encircled  the  bleating  little  orphans. 

I  also  heard,  only  a  year  or  so  since,  of  an  incident 
that  happened  perhaps  fifteen  years  ago.  A  repre- 
sentative of  the  press,  Mr.  Barrows  of  Boston,  was  sent 
for  scientific  purposes  with  our  regiment  during  the 
summer  campaign.  He  told  me  that  General  Custer, 
riding  at  the  head  of  the  column,  seeing  the  nest  of  a 
meadow-lark,  with  birdlings  in  it,  in  the  grass,  guided 
his  horse  around  it,  and  resumed  the  straight  course 
again  without  saying  a  word  or  giving  a  direction.  The 
whole  command  of  many  hundred  cavalrymen  made 
the  same  detour,  each  detachment  coming  up  to  the 
place  where  the  preceding  horsemen  had  turned  out, 
and  looking  down  into  the  nest  to  find  the  reason  for 
the  unusual  departure  from  the  straight  line  of  march. 

Our  officers'  tenderness  to  children  was  unceasing. 
One  of  them,  going  to  the  steamer  which  made  its  rare 


HOME  OF   THE   BUFFALO.  189 

stops  at  I'ort  Lincoln,  to  meet  an  aunt  he  had  not  seen 
for  a  long  time,  found  among  the  crowd  that  swarmed 
over  the  narrow  guards  a  frontiersman  who  was  attend- 
ing a  child  with  croup.  The  mother  of  the  child  had 
died  a  few  days  before.  The  little  one  was  dying,  ap- 
parently, but,  thinking  there  was  time  to  save  its  life, 
our  Seventh  Cavalryman  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  w^ent 
to  the  post,  sought  out  the  doctor,  secured  medicine, 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  surgeon  at  the  next  post,  asking  him 
to  go  to  the  steamer  while  it  was  wooding,  and  prescribe 
for  the  child ;  he  then  returned  to  the  boat,  giving  the 
distressed  father  the  medicine,  and  not  even  explaining 
to  his  aunt  why  he  had  left  her  so  summarily. 

But  how  shall  I  ever  hope  to  paint  the  surround- 
ings? How  can  any  one  imagine  a  country  where 
there  were  no  apothecaries,  no  physicians,  no  nurses 
outside  a  military  post,  and  where  an  act  of  kindness 
so  common  in  the  States  means  the  saving  of  life  that 
otherwise  would  have  perished  on  the  isolated  frontier? 
I  cannot  name  the  instances  where  officers,  unused  to 
children,  have  taught  themselves  to  be  helpful  when 
the  overtaxed  mother,  the  wife  of  his  comrade,  needed 
help  with  an  ill  child.  Those  gallant  men,  walking  the 
floor  with  a  peevish  baby,  had  not  one  moment's  thought 
of  whether  they  presented  a  ridiculous  appearance  or 
not. 

And  when  they  tamed  their  fiery  charger  to  a  walk, 
and  took  the  little  boy  of  a  friend  in  front  of  them  on 
the  saddle,  suiting  the  gait  of  the  animal  to  the  soft 
wabbling  of  the  fat  little  body  and  legs,  there  was  no 


190  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

turning  in  fear  to  notice  a  smile  of  derision  in  the  cor- 
ner of  any  scoffer's  mouth.  On  one  of  the  through 
trains  I  knew  an  officer  to  offer,  soon  after  he  left  Chi- 
cago, to  get  warm  milk  at  the  stations  for  a  fellow-trav- 
eller whom  he  did  not  know,  a  poor  woman  with  two 
little  children,  and  until  they  reached  the  Pacific  coast 
he  kept  this  up  three  times  a  day.  The  Pacific  road  was 
then  new,  and  the  journey  was  not  made  in  the  few 
days  that  it  occupies  at  present.  !No  amount  of  comic 
speeches  from  his  brother  officers  at  the  figure  he  cut 
as  milkman  with  his  tin  cups  moved  him  to  forsake 
his  mission. 

When  we  were  first  in  Kansas  women  had  never,  to 
any  one's  knowledge,  been  taken  on  buffalo-hunts,  and 
our  officers  determined  to  begin.  General  Miles,  who 
commanded  Fort  Hays,  and  General  Custer,  who  were 
most  congenial  friends,  loving  hunting  next  to  their 
profession,  determined  to  take  their  wives.  It  was  an 
extraordinary  privilege,  for  we  were  undoubtedly  in  the 
way,  and  it  required  a  good  deal  of  planning  to  arrange 
for  us,  and  see  that  we  were  protected  with  an  escort 
while  the  officers  made  the  charge  into  the  herd.  As  I 
remember  what  an  amount  of  bother  it  was  for  them, 
I  do  not  think,  in  common  parlance,  it  "paid"  to  take 
us  along,  but  it  was  a  very  great  pleasure  to  us.  From 
the  very  first  I  was  not  permitted  to  ride  on  horseback. 
The  country  was  so  full  of  prairie-dog  and  gopher  holes 
that  the  best  and  surest-footed  horse  was  apt  to  stum- 
ble, and  sometimes  even  break  a  leg  when  the  honey- 
combed earth  gave  way  suddenly,  and  let  him  into  the 


HOME  OF  THE  BUFFALO.  191 

subterranean  liomes  of  the  little  burrowing  animals.  It 
was  difficult  to  ride  full  tilt  over  the  trails  the  buffaloes 
made  to  the  streams,  for  the  earth  was  baked  hard  by 
the  water  that  had  gathered  and  dried  in  these  narrow 
trenches.  The  buffalo- wallow  was  another  serious  ob- 
stacle to  rapid  riding.  There  again  the  hard  surface 
of  the  sun-baked  rim  to  this  basin  did  not  give  under 
the  flying  hoofs  of  a  running  horse.  Unless  they  were 
seen  in  time  to  go  round  them — for  they  were  from  ten 
to  fifteen  feet  in  circumference — it  was  a  sudden  and 
dangerous  slackening  of  speed  to  leap  into  the  depres- 
sion and  spring  out  again.  All  the  muscles  of  the 
officers'  lithe  bodies  were  free  to  resist  such  sudden 
plunges,  while  one  half  of  us  was  as  useless  as  if  para- 
lyzed as  we  clung  to  the  side  of  the  horse.  There  were 
no  limits  to  what  we  contended  we  could  have  done 
if  it  had  been  the  custom  for  us  to  ride  as  they  did. 
Fortunately  for  us,  our  boasts  were  never  put  to  the 
test,  and  thus  our  reputations  as  horsewomen  were  not 
imperilled. 

The  officers  considered  all  these  dangers,  and  dis- 
suaded us  from  riding.  Our  coachman  drove  so  well, 
and  entered  so  into  the  spirit  of  the  hour,  that  I  was 
often  in  at  the  death,  though  living  a  lifetime  of  fear 
in  getting  there.  He  had  strong  horses,  and  he  espe- 
cially prepared  the  stout  Government  harness,  which 
was  always  of  the  best  material,  before  a  hunt,  and  ex- 
amined the  wagon-springs  carefully.  General  Custer 
rode  by  the  carriage  until  they  struck  the  herd,  and 
then,  giving  Henry  orders  to  follow  slowly,  off  went 


192  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

the  gay  riders.  Henry,  true  to  his  orders,  drove  slowly 
for  a  time  over  divide  after  divide  until  the  chase 
began  to  be  spirited,  and  then,  forgetting  the  wagon- 
break,  forgetting  his.  orders,  oblivious  of  everything 
except  the  vanishing  herd,  he  urged  his  steeds  on  and 
on  until  they  broke  into  a  gallop.  Henry  rose  to  his 
feet  to  urge  them  forward,  and  flourishing  his  whip, 
we  tore  over  the  country  at  a  real  breakneck  speed.  I 
cowered  on  the  back  seat  with  fear,  and  of  course  I 
remonstrated.  Henry  argued,  his  eyes  eagerly  watch- 
ing the  horsemen.  Finally  I  implored,  and  said,  "  Oh, 
don't,  dovbt^  Henry ;  we'll  go  to  pieces,  I'm  sure !" 
With  his  kindly  voice,  talking  to  me  as  he  would  to  a 
scared  child,  he  would  reply,  "  There  ain't  no  kind  of 
danger.  Miss  Libbie ;  I'll  take  keer  of  you ;  you  jest 
wait  till  I  get  to  see  'em  from  the  top  of  that  next 
divide,  and  I'll  stop." 

With  all  our  experience,  we,  officers  and  all,  lived 
day  after  day  with  the  delusion  that  "  the  top  of  the 
next  divide"  would  reveal  us  some  sight,  and  wave 
after  wave  of  land  swept  on  without  discovering  any- 
thing but  the  ever-deluding  knoll  beyond  the  gentle 
undulation  into  which  we  descended.  So  Henry  fol- 
lowed with  all  the  speed  he  could  get  out  of  his  horses, 
telling  me,  "  The  next  divide,  Miss  Libbie,  we's  sho'  to 
see  'em." 

How  he  managed  to  guide  his  excited  horses  with- 
out accident  around  the  wallows,  through  the  prairie- 
dog  villages,  and  to  twist  through  the  cactus -beds,  to 
descend  the  gullies,  and  to  jerk  the  wagon  up  the  as- 


HOME   OF   THE   BUFFALO.  193 

cending  knoll,  was  of  course  an  unsolved  mystery.  The 
wagon  creaked  out  an  occasional  protest,  the  harness 
snapped  threateningly,  but  on  we  flew  in  safety,  Ev^- 
ery thing  rattled  and  clattered  and  banged  as  we  tore 
over  the  prairie,  but  the  ambitious  Jehu,  with  every 
faith  in  his  horses  and  harness,  chuckled  with  delight. 
Finally  we  would  begin  to  overtake  the  hunters, 
and  at  last,  as  the  successful  sportsmen  were  dismount- 
ing to  cut  up  the  game,  Henry,  triumphant  and  beam- 
ing, drove  his  galloping,  panting,  foam-flecked  horses 
into  the  circle,  and  a  shout  of  laughter  went  up  from 
the  hunters  at  the  very  idea  of  chasing  buffaloes  in  a 


13 


Sicft. 


Efe--==5E 

--i=f^ 

— ^I 

^ 

a 

N=:] 

4         0 

:fe-4 S=is ^-z 

Go       get      your 

pille,       go       get      your 

r-x ^^ — ^3 z f-  ^- 

pills,     Go 
— s — 9 1 — 1 

:X^     ^      tf-^-*    ^     =h    ^ 

zE^r-f-t 

:(:= 

=f-?— ti 

get  your  pills,  go     get 

-1^ > 

your  pills,  Go    g 

^ . — 

et  your  pill 

1^_* — J 

3,  go  get  your 

r-€ 

1 *— 

1 1— 

S-f~f- 

^_j^_J^J_JL 

-1 — wd H- 

^!5-:f--| 

piUs,     Go 

L^ i      '— ^ 

get      your 

d 

pills, 

L|      1 

go... 

get 

your  pills. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 


FIRST   WOMEN^   TO   HUNT   BUFFALOES. 


Henry  did  not  drive  us  on  the  hunt  when  we  wom- 
en were  taken  for  the  first  time.  "We  had  an  ambu- 
lance fitted  up  as  a  travelling -wagon,  with  the  seats 
across  instead  of  lengthwise,  as  in  the  regulation  am- 
bulance. Under  the  rear  axle  hung  the  keg  of  Water, 
and  under  the  front  was  suspended  the  bucket  for  the 
animals.  There  were  four  mules,  and  the  whole  estab- 
lishment, from  the  rack  for  luncheon-hampers,  at  the 
rear,  to  the  farthermost  tip  of  the  lead-mules'  ears,  was 
a  long-drawn-out  affair,  and  as  we  halted  in  front  of 
the  commanding  oflScer's  quarters  at  Fort  Hajs  we  cast 
a  lengthened  shadow  on  the  burning  sand  of  the  al- 
most bare  parade-ground. 

The  driver,  a  faithful  soldier,  had  his  carbine  by  his 
side  and  his  cartridge-belt  buckled  around  his  waist. 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO   HUNT   BUFFALOES.  195 

These  ominous  preparations  for  a  pleasure-party  made 
me  shudder  a  little,  while  the  detachment  of  cavalry 
waiting  outside  the  post,  with  jingling  spurs,  rattling 
arms,  and  impatient,  stamping  horses,  suggested  further 
precaution,  and  added  still  more  to  my  fears.  The 
escort  was  unusually  large,  as  the  unfortunate  shoot- 
ing of  the  Indian  chiefs  in  the  corral  was  too  recent  an 
event  not  to  make  the  officers  realize  the  necessity  for 
caution.  It  was  impossible  to  communicate  with  the 
hostiles  and  explain  this  catastrophe,  and  no  one  knew 
at  what  moment  a  band  of  warriors,  intent  on  revenge, 
would  start  out  from  a  ravine  and  attack  any  one 
venturing  outside  the  post. 

I  was  not  the  only  one  of  the  four  women  who 
were  so  honored  as  to  be  taken  along  who  trembled 
at  these  warlike  preparations,  for  Mrs.  Miles,  then  a 
bride,  and  having  her  first  experience  of  the  plains, 
watched  her  husband  anxiously  as  he  rode  about  giv- 
ing final  directions,  and  would  gladly  have  urged  him 
to  drive  with  us,  thus  striving  to  secure  liis  safety,  had 
she  hoped  to  dislodge  a  born  cavalryman  from  his  seat 
in  the  saddle  that  he  so  loved,  and  that  he  filled  so 
well.  General  Miles  had  been  a  cavalry  officer  during 
the  war,  and  though  at  that  time  an  infantry  colonel, 
he  took  to  this  mounted  pleasuring  as  naturally  as  if 
leading  a  charge.  When  the  officers  declared  that  all 
was  ready  the  bugle  sounded,  the  impatient  horses 
started,  and  the  little  cavalcade  was,  after  many  de- 
lays, set  in  motion.  There  was  an  ambulance  at  the 
rear,  and  that  was  another  rather  gloomy  accompani- 


196  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

merit  of  a  laughing,  singing,  rollicking  hunting  party. 
It  was  considered  necessary,  however ;  for,  though  the 
accidents  were  never  serious,  there  was  rarely  a  hunt 
in  which  some  one  was  not  hurt. 

Our  progress  to  the  part  of  the  plains  where  the  buf- 
faloes grazed  was  slow,  as  all  the  officers  tried  to  save 
their  horses  until  the  actual  chase  began.  The  onfy 
variety  for  some  miles  was  the  sudden  darting  off  of 
the  dogs  in  pursuit  of  the  jack-rabbits  that  lifted  their 
fawn-like  heads  above  the  tufts  of  grass  where  they  had 
been  nibbling,  and  then  shot  over  the  plain  in  terrified 
haste.  We  were  so  much  in  sympathy  with  the  little 
creatures  that  we  did  not  share  the  sportsman's  disap- 
pointment when  they  succeeded  in  getting  so  great  a 
start  of  the  dogs  that  they  were  soon  too  dim  a  speck 
on  the  prairie  to  be  discernible.  The  officers  occasion- 
ally came  riding  back  from  the  advance  to  chat  with 
us ;  but  through  all  the  day  the  doctor,  who  had  con- 
stituted himself  our  escort,  never  left  us.  He  rode  a 
cumbersome  gray,  and  he  himself,  having  started  out 
in  his  military  career  with  over  six  feet  of  person  one 
way,  was  busy  with  good  dinners  getting  himself  into 
condition  to  measure  that  much  the  other,  and  the  cir- 
cumference he  had  acquired  made  him  anything  but  a 
light  weight  or  a  typical  cavalryman. 

All  the  novelty  of  the  occasion,  the  soft  air  of  the 
plains,  deliciously  pure  and  exhilarating,  the  rare  sen- 
sation when  we  looked  about  us  and  saw  the  entire 
horizon  with  "  the  sky  fitting  close  down  all  around," 
as  our  officers  expressed  it,  did  not  banish  from  my 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO    HUNT  BUFFALOES.  197 

mind  the  dread  of  the  Indian.  Every  tuft  of  grass,  or 
sage-bush,  or  dump  of  cactus,  silhouetted  against  the 
sky  seemed  to  sway  slowly  as  if  a  human  being  were 
hiding  behind  the  low  barricade.  As  one  rides  or 
drives  with  cavalry  the  least  diversion  seems  to  trem- 
ble along  through  the  column  and  reach  you  in  a  doz- 
en mute  ways.  The  sudden  rattle  of  steel  or  accoutre- 
ments as  the  rider  turns  slightly  in  the  saddle,  the  short, 
low  ejaculation  of  the  troopers,  the  horses'  ears  starting 
from  a  listless  droop  into  alert  erectness,  the  click  of 
the  hoof  evidencing  a  change  in  gait — all  these  simple 
signals  reached  me,  and  before  a  word  was  spoken  my 
heart  pounded  a  wild  tattoo  on  my  ribs,  and  to  solve 
the  mystery  my  eyes  quickly  scanned  the  great  circle 
bounding  the  sky.  Perhaps  a  herd  of  antelopes  stood 
transfixed  by  curiosity  as  we  were  discovered  approach- 
ing ;  possibly  a  deer,  taking  fright  for  himself  and  the 
pretty  doe  and  fawn,  sprang  off  with  marvellous  bounds 
to  lead  the  way  to  securer  haunts.  The  ever-vigilant 
eyes  of  a  terrified  woman  soon  have  a  whole  collection 
of  small  signs  that  telegraph  to  her  quick  sensibilities 
the  possibility  of  danger.  If  in  description  of  the  tri- 
fles that  produce  this  tremor  of  almost  imperceptible 
excitement  through  a  cavalry  column  Longfellow  had 
framed  a  line  such  as  he  wrote  for  the  ship — "  She  feels 
a  thrill  of  life  along  her  keel " — it  would  have  saved 
much  prose  which  cannot  even  clumsily  portray  the 
momentary  precursor  of  disturbance  that  pervades  a 
body  of  horsemen.  When  the  disturbing  object  pre- 
sents itself,  then  the  voices  are  outspoken,  and  after 


198  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

the  mystery  is  solved  tlie  column  resumes  its  even  gait 
of  four  miles  an  hour. 

After  several  of  tliese  slight  interruptions,  which 
gave  me,  nevertheless,  a  start  of  agitation,  finally  there 
came  something  that  even  the  troopers  watched  with 
suspense.  Human  beings,  whether  white  or  red  men, 
were  seen  far  away  to  our  left.  The  command  was 
instantly  halted,  and  the  officers  consulted  together. 
We  were  too  far  at  the  rear  to  hear  a  word  of  the  dis- 
cussion. All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  left.  Our  lead- 
mules'  ears  began  to  express  excitement  as  their  eyes 
descried  the  distant  figures.  The  driver,  trying  not  to 
let  us  see  him,  quietly  freed  his  carbine  from  the  reins 
and  litter  that  had  been  tossed  on  the  front  seat.  The 
doctor  instinctively  put  his  hand  to  his  belt  and  tug- 
ged at  his  pistol,  which,  uncomfortable  at  being  jos- 
tled about  his  broad  proportions,  had  settled  itself  in 
the  small  of  his  back.  The  officers  rode  back  to  us 
in  a  few  moments,  and  St.  Peter  recorded  another  of 
those  fibs  of  which  he  has  such  a  list  laid  up  against 
officers  who  tell  women  "  there  is  not  the  slightest  dan- 
ger." I  had  then  been  married  several  years,  and  this 
assertion,  that  I  had  heard  so  often,  had  no  effect  in 
calming  me. 

General  Miles  and  General  Custer  determined  to  ride 
on  and  investigate,  and  an  Irish  officer,  a  reckless  rider, 
begged  to  accompany  them.  Both  officers  had  field- 
glasses,  but  the  distance  was  too  great  to  discover  any- 
thing definite.  The  Irishman's  horse  was  like  himself, 
and  plunged  on  in  advance  at  headlong  speed  ;  Gener- 


FIRST  WOMEN   TO   HUNT  BUFFALOES.  199 

al  Miles  and  General  Custer  were  mounted  on  animals 
that  combined  other  traits  even  more  desirable  in  buf- 
falo-hunting— ^tenacity  of  will  and  strength.  As  the 
horseman  in  advance  dashed  on  precipitately,  the  fig- 
ures we  were  watching  so  closely  began  to  ride  in  a 
circle.  Still,  though  this,  all  over  the  plains,  was  the 
established  signal  for  a  parley,  we  knew  that  Indians 
had  sometimes  used  it  as  a  ruse  to  decoy  the  white  man 
into  their  power.  When  the  daring  captain  was  near 
enough  to  speak  to  them,  we  saw  him  turn  and  ride 
back ;  and  as  we  gazed  through  our  opera-glasses,  which 
we  found  aided  us  even  then,  it  was  with  intense  re- 
lief that  we  saw  the  circle-riding  given  up,  and  the 
captain's  own  pace  become  more  moderate.  The  horse- 
men proved  to  be  herders  looking  for  their  mules,  and 
seeing  our  little  cavalcade,  they  were  as  much  frighten- 
ed as  we  were,  and  only  too  glad  to  be  relieved  of  their 
terrors. 

Finally,  after  the  beautiful  cool  morning  merged  into 
the  warmth  of  noon,  and  the  quivering  heat  over  the 
scorching  ground  made  us  feel  thirsty,  and  sigh  for  a 
murmuring  stream,  it  was  decided  that  our  pursuit  of 
game  could  go  on  more  actively  if  the  inner  man  were 
fortified.  We  might  look  in  vain  for  a  tree,  or  for  a 
brook,  or  even  a  pool :  there  was  no  shade  except  a  very 
narrow  strip  beside  the  wagon,  for  the  sun  was  still  al- 
most above  us.  The  water  in  the  kegs  was  not  im- 
proved by  the  constant  swinging  that  had  been  kept 
up  with  the  motion  of  the  wagon ;  the  "  cold  "  tea  and 
coffee  were  lukewarm,  but  what  did  we  care  ?     I  wish 


200  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

that  I  could  see  such  sparkling  eyes,  such  devouring 
appetites,  such  enthusiastic  diners  at  Delmonico's,  as 
were  gathered  about  the  luncheon-baskets  on  that  glo- 
rious summer  day.  Every  one  had  contributed  some- 
thing, and  the  jumble  was  amusing ;  but  when  we  had 
finished  there  was  scarcely  enough  left  to  give  the 
driver  a  taste  of  each  of  the  viands  to  add  to  his  hard- 
tack, pork,  and  the  tepid  water  in  his  canteen.  The  dogs 
sat  around  the  outside  of  the  circle,  disputing,  as  usual, 
with  their  hungry  eyes  every  mouthful  we  took,  and 
jumping  for  tlie  bones  that  were  tossed  them.  Then 
the  two  generals  poured  from  the  keg  containing  the 
only  water  we  might  see  during  the  entire  day,  a  little 
for  each  hound,  and  in  return  got  an  affectionate  lick 
from  the  rough  but  loving  tongues,  and  a  gambol  of 
grateful  delight  as  they  sprang  off  for  the  march. 

Coming  to  a  stream,  we  found  the  column  suddenly 
halted,  and  our  heads  were  instantly  out  of  the  side  of 
the  wagon  to  see  what  could  be  the  matter.  The  doc- 
tor soon  came  hurrying  back  to  say  that  the  passage 
was  disputed  by  a  small  but  well-armed  foe,  and  added 
that  "as  soon  as  that  essence-peddler  saw  fit  to  move 
on,  the  major-general  commanding  would  issue  his  or- 
der to  march."  It  was  rather  laughable  to  have  a 
whole  command  held  at  bay  by  one  small  animal. 

J^ot  long  after  we  had  started  again  there  was  a 
shout  from  the  head  of  the  column,  and  on  came  to  us 
the  word  "  Buffaloes !"  It  conveyed  to  me  another  trem- 
or of  agitation.  I  am  ashamed  to  confess  that  I  was  even 
afraid  of  buffaloes.     I  had  not  then  seen  them,  for, 


FIBST   WOMEN  TO   HUNT  BUFFALOES.  201 

• 

though  in  previous  chapters  reference  may  have  been 
made  to  them,  the  alhisions  were  to  the  events  of  the 
summer.  These  great  black  blotches  against  the  fault- 
less sky  were  my  introduction  to  the  American  buffalo. 
They  loomed  up  like  elephants  to  my  scared  vision.  I 
thought  at  that  time  that  they  combined  the  ferocity 
of  the  tiger  with  the  strength  of  the  lion.  I  had  no 
idea  how  peaceful  thej^  really  were  if  let  alone.  The 
Boldiei's  who  had  gone  in  advance,  and  who  had  inform- 
ed us  by  riding  in  a  circle  (a  preconcerted  signal)  that 
buffaloes  were  ahead,  now  joined  the  column,  and  a  halt 
was  called  to  prepare  for  the  chase.  The  doctor  and  a 
few  men  were  to  remain  as  our  escort,  while  we  fol- 
lowed slowly. 

There  was  no  particular  care  as  to  the  dress  of  the 
hunters,  and  oflScers  and  enlisted  men  took  every  lati- 
tude in  the  matter  of  costume.  The  legs  of  a  cavalry- 
man are  usually  well  cared  for ;  his  corduroy  or  buck- 
skin breeches  are  an  excellent  fit,  and  his  troop-boots, 
coming  to  the  knee,  set  off  a  shapely  thigh.  A  flannel 
shirt,  with  the  loose  collar  confined  by  a  soft  tie,  was 
especially  becoming  to  those  bronzed  men.  The  sol- 
diers were  nondescript  in  their  dress.  There  was  a  pre- 
vailing tint  of  army  blue  throughout ;  but  there  were 
picturesque  patches,  and  the  gaudy  shirts  bought  from 
the  army  sutler  seemed  an  appropriate  costume  for 
their  fine  muscular  forms.  Every  sort  of  close  cap  and 
hat  appeared,  for  nothing  broad  in  the  brim  could  with- 
stand the  furious  speed  with  which  they  rode  against 
the  wind.     It  was  impossible  for  women  to  make  toi- 


202  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

lets  on  such  an  occasion.  We  simply  looked  up  the 
strongest  garments  we  had,  for  the  rough  riding,  the 
constant  clambering  in  and  out  of  the  carriage,  the  ab- 
sence of  any  protection  to  our  clothes  when  we  halted 
and  sat  on  the  ground  for  luncheon  or  to  rest,  made 
havoc  with  anything  good. 

Our  opera-glasses  looked  just  a  little  "frilly"  in 
such  a  place,  but  they  were  really  usefuL  It  struck 
us  as  rather  odd,  when  taking  them  from  their  velvet 
cases  on  the  barren  desert  of  a  plain,  to  contrast  our 
surroundings  with  the  last  place  where  they  were  used. 
The  brilliantly  lighted  opera-house,  the  air  scented  with 
hot-house  flowers,  the  rich  costumes  of  the  women,  the 
faultlessly  dressed  men,  the  studied  conventionality  of 
the  calmly  listening  audience,  hearing  ravishing  music 
unmoved — all  these  recollections  presented  a  scene 
about  as  different  from  that  on  the  plains  as  can  be  im- 
agined. Here  we  were,  after  all  that  glimpse  of  lux- 
urious life,  rolling  over  the  arid  desert,  breathing  with 
joy  the  intoxicating  air,  and  going  into  ecstasies  over 
everything,  even  over  the  one  flower  the  hot  summer 
had  spared — the  soapwort  with  its  scentless  blossom, 
its  dagger-like  leaves,  and  its  prosaic  root,  which  was 
really  used  as  a  substitute  for  soap. 

As  soon  as  the  men  dismounted  every  soldier  began 
to  examine  his  girth,  bit,  bridle,  stirrups,  and  fire-arms, 
to  buckle  his  carbine-belt,  and  fasten  on  his  hat.  The 
little  company  of  troopers  was  told  off  into  detach- 
ments, and  directed  to  approach  the  herd  to  leeward, 
so  that  the  quick  nostrils  of  the  buffalo  picket  might 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO   HUNT   BUFFALOES.  203 

not  sniff  danger.  There  were  only  murmuring  voices — 
no  loud  talking  was  allowed — and  the  merriment  which 
rarely  leaves  the  happy-go-lucky  trooper  was  momen- 
tarily suppressed.  Some  took  off  their  caps,  and  tied 
them,  with  their  blouses,  to  the  saddle ;  other  super- 
fluous articles  were  strapped  down  so  as  not  to  make  a 
sound.  Then,  with  a  low  signal,  they  all  gave  rein  to 
their  already  excited  horses,  and  dashed  up  from  the 
little  divide  in  which  these  preparations  had  gone  on, 
and  were  off  like  a  flash.  The  buffaloes,  finally  startled 
by  the  noise  of  the  hoofs  of  the  advancing  steeds, 
awakened  from  their  lazy,  stupid  browsing,  started 
their  cumbrous  gait,  and  made  over  the  country  far 
more  rapidly  than  any  one  would  imagine  possible 
in  view  of  their  enormous  size.  Soon  our  men  were 
among  the  herd,  singling  out  the  especial  buffalo  they 
wished  to  kill ;  and  with  our  glasses  we  saw  them  for 
some  time,  but  at  last  a  divide  hid  pursuers  and  pur- 
sued. 

After  a  time  Colonel  Tom  was  discovered  riding  tow- 
ards us.  He  brought  the  news  that  his  brother  had 
wounded  a  buffalo,  and  waited  for  us  before  he  put 
in  the  death-shot.  We  were  guided  to  the  spot,  and 
found  a  huge  beast  pawing  the  ground,  his  short  tail 
waving  defiance  and  rage,  his  bloodshot  eyes  glittering 
from  beneath  the  thick  mat  of  bushy  hair  on  his  fore- 
head, his  horns  ripping  up  the  sod.  As  the  ofiicers 
darted  up  to  him  he  plunged  forward  to  gore  their 
horses,  and  failing,  dug  his  hoofs  in  the  soil  and  tore 
up  the  earth,  throwing  the  dust  about  him  in  his  fury. 


204:  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

It  was  a  repetition  of  the  Spanish  bull-fight  with  the 
matadore  for  a  few  brief  moments;  but  the  telling 
shot  was  soon  sent,  and  the  great  animal's  tongue  hung 
out  helplessly,  his  nostrils  bled  as  he  rolled  over,  shook 
his  huge  frame,  and  struggled  no  more.  We  left  the 
carriage  in  order  to  view  him  on  all  sides ;  and  while  we 
used  up  adjectives  in  the  most  reckless  manner  trying 
to  find  language  fitting  to  describe  our  surprise  at  the 
size  of  the  monster,  we  suddenly  heard  a  scream,  and 
found  that  General  Custer  had  caught  up  the  young 
lady  of  the  party  and  set  her  down  on  the  huge  carcass 
of  the  dead  game.  She  cried  out  in  terror,  but  was  firm- 
ly held  there,  and  told  to  take  the  knife  and  cut  a  tuft 
from  the  buffalo's  head  as  a  trophy.  Her  hands  trem- 
bled so  much  that  Colonel  Tom  had  to  do  the  work, 
and  then  his  brother  laughingly  handed  the  tuft  to  the 
temporarily  enthroned  queen  of  the  hunt,  telling  her, 
with  a  droll  twinkle  of  the  eye,  to  take  it  to  her  sister 
with  his  compliments,  and  say  that  it  was  snatched 
from  the  head  of  a  certain  woman  whom  we  knew  that 
she  despised.  The  brush  was  given  to  another  one 
of  us,  and  locks  of  hair  secured  for  others ;  then  we 
returned  to  the  carriage  while  the  buffalo  was  being 
cut  up.  It  required  much  dexterity  to  take  out  the 
tongue.  I  know  that  our  officers  did  some  awkward 
hacking  before  they  learned  from  a  scout  that  it  is 
skill  and  experience  that  are  necessary.  The  rump- 
steaks  were  easily  removed,  and  then  the  soldiers  cut 
where  they  chose,  and  strung  the  meat  to  their  sad- 
dles.    It  was  a  great  privilege  to  the  enlisted  man  to 


FIRST  WOMEN  TO   HUNT  BUFFALOES.  205 

get  this  salutary  change  from  his  ration*  of  salt  pork 
to  fresh  meat. 

We  were  placed  again  in  the  carriage,  the  horsemen  ' 
mounted,  and  the  hunt  was  resumed.  Finally  we  came 
to  the  edge  of  a  cliff,  and  our  carriage  halted  to  find  a 
safe  descent.  The  officers  and  soldiers  descended  care- 
fully, while  the  buffaloes  seemed  to  go  down  head-first, 
but  gathered  themselves  quickly,  and  started  off  so 
rapidly  that  they  gained  considerably  on  the  riders, 
who  had  to  take  more  time  in  getting  again  to  the 
comparatively  level  ground.  From  our  rather  elevated 
position  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  chase,  and  began 
to  enjoy  it  all  as  we  found  what  daring  and  splendid 
horsemanship  was  exhibited  without  accident.  The 
manner  in  which  the  soldiers  and  officers  rode  was 
alone  worth  our  trouble  in  coming  as  spectators.  On 
our  ordinary  daily  rides,  or  on  the  hunts  after  jack- 
rabbits  or  wolves,  or  even  antelopes,  there  was  not 

*  The  Ration  (Par.  1367,  Army  Regulations). — A  ration  is  the 
established  daily  allowance  of  food  for  one  person.  As  now  fixed, 
its  components  are  as  follows : 

Twelve  ounces  of  pork  or  bacon  or  canned  beef  (fresh  or  corn- 
ed), or  one  pound  and  four  ounces  of  fresh  beef,  or  twenty-two 
ounces  of  salt  beef;  eighteen  ounces  of  soft  bread  or  flour,  or  six- 
tee^j  ounces  of  hard  bread,  or  one  pound  and  four  ounces  of  corn- 
meal  ;  and  to  have,  every  one  hundred  rations,  fifteen  pounds  of 
pease  or  beans,  or  ten  pounds  of  rice  or  hominy;  ten  pounds  of 
green  coffee,  or  eight  of  roasted  (or  roasted  and  ground)  coffee,  or 
two  pounds  of  tea;  fifteen  pounds  of  sugar,  four  quarts  of  vinegar; 
four  pounds  of  soap,  four  pounds  of  salt;  four  ounces  of  pepper; 
one  pound  and  eight  ounces  of  adamantine  or  star  candles;  and 
to  troops  in  the  field,  when  necessary,  four  pounds  of  yeast-pow- 
der to  one  hundred  rations  of  flour. 


206  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

much  opportunity  for  us  to  see  the  remarkable  intelli- 
gence of  some  of  the  best  horses,  or  have  an  exhibition 
of  the  superb  equestrian  ship  of  a  wild  charge  into  a 
herd  of  buffaloes.  Horse  and  rider  were  keyed  up  to 
such  a  pitch  that  not  a  word,  and  hardly  a  touch  of 
the  bridle,  much  less  of  a  spur,  was  necessary.  With- 
out any  guiding,  the  intelligent  beast  swung  one  mo- 
ment into  a  graceful  semicircle  as  he  avoided  the  buf- 
falo-wallow, hardly  slackening  his  speed,  or  sprang  with 
a  powerful  leap  over  a  bunch  of  cactus,  or  made  his 
tortuous  way  through  the  prairie-dog  village,  planting 
his  hoofs  with  such  unerring  precision,  it  seemed  in- 
credible in  view  of  the  speed  kept  up.  Then,  when 
the  one  animal  singled  out  as  game  was  reached,  the 
speed  of  the  steed  slackened,  and  a  series  of  tactics 
worthy  of  a  trained  circus-horse  began.  The  sudden 
rearing,  and  the  quick  backing  in  retreat  to  avoid  the 
threatening  horns,  the  dash  forward  beside  the  beast, 
the  leaping  to  one  side  on  all  fours  when  the  buffalo 
made  a  charge,  were  movements  repeated  with  won- 
derful agility. 

All  amateurs  fired  at  a  buffalo's  head,  but  the  largest 
bullets  made  no  impression  on  the  thick  skull.  The 
animal  shook  his  huge  head  as  if  dislodging  a  fly  when 
a  shot  struck  him  in  the  face,  or  perhaps  he  paid  no  at- 
tention at  all  to  the  leaden  hail  as  the  bullets  glanced 
off  him  as  from  an  iron-clad. 

With  all  the  quick  veering  from  side  to  side,  the 
rapid  wheeling  to  get  out  of  the  way,  the  rider,  with 
body  swaying  at  every  movement  of  the  horse,  met 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO   HUNT   BUFFALOES.  207 

each  new  change  of  gait,  each  fresh  impulse  of  the 
vigilant  animal,  as  if  man  and  beast  were  one.  In  all 
these  evolutions,  so  quickly  and  skilfully  effected,  the 
rider  was  able  to  load  the  poor  hunted  beast  with  lead  in 
aiming  for  the  telling  spot,  giving  scarcely  a  thought 
to  his  horse.  It  goes  without  saying  that  our  officers 
were  good  shots;  but  it  was  no  easy  affair  to  get  a 
bullet  just  outside  the  edge  of  the  great  mass  of  tan- 
gled woolly  hair  that  was  packed  so  densely  around 
the  huge  head.  I  remember  one  buffalo  into  which 
forty  shots  had  been  fired,  and  yet,  with  his  hide  thus 
perforated  with  bullets,  he  fought  with  desperation, 
even  with  his  tongue  hanging  out,  the  unerring  signal 
of  fast-coming  death. 

One  of  the  sights  of  the  day,  and  one  to  remember 
for  many  a  long  day  afterwards,  was  a  contest  with  a 
buffalo  which  General  Miles  and  General  Custer  had 
singled  out  of  the  herd  and  driven  to  bay.  The  ex- 
asperated animal  made  a  furious  fight,  his  great  eye- 
balls red  and  glittering  with  rage,  his  huge  head  thrust 
downward  as  he  hurled  himself  first  at  one  officer  who 
rode  at  him  on  one  side,  and  then  suddenly  wheeling, 
he  made  desperate  lunges  towards  the  other  when  the 
hunter's  temerity  brought  him  too  near.  These  lithe 
young  men,  without  an  ounce  of  superfiuous  flesh, 
with  their  bright  eyes  dancing  with  excitement,  their 
fair  hair  flying,  their  throats  bared  and  throbbing  with 
the  hot  blood  that  rushed  through  their  veins,  their 
muscles  steeled  to  the  absorbing  work  before  them, 
made  such  pictures  of  vigorous  manhood  that  are  not 


208  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

soon  effaced  from  the  camera  of  the  mind.  They 
thrust  their  feet  out  of  the  stirrups,  and  held  them- 
selves in  place  by  their  powerful  and  pliable  legs ;  and 
as  neither  weighed  over  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds, 
they  knew  how  to  sit  their  horses  lightly,  and  so  favor 
the  nervous,  active  animals  under  them. 

It  was  something  to  occupy  every  energy,  and  keep 
even  young  and  agile  men  vigilant,  when  the  colossal 
animal  suddenly  wakened  out  of  the  usual  dull  lethargy 
of  his  humdrum  life  into  the  ferocity  of  rage.  Had  not 
the  horses  been  so  attuned  to  their  riders,  and  so  one 
with  them  in  the  excitement  of  the  chase,  one  of  the 
wildly  tossing  horns  of  the  beast  would  have  been  thrust 
into  the  side  from  which  such  persistent  aim  was  taken. 
The  hunters  trusted  to  their  faithful  steeds,  and  believed 
that  they  would  take  care  of  themselves  as  well  as  of 
their  riders.  The  bridle  was  scarcely  touched,  and  as 
the  horses  whirled  first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other, 
the  swaying  supple  forms  of  the  athletic  riders  followed 
instinctively  every  motion  of  their  steeds.  Sometimes 
one  of  the  horses  sprang  back  almost  upon  his  haunches 
in  his  struggle  to  retreat  from  the  threatening  head  of 
the  foe.  Then,  had  not  the  skilful  horseman,  poised 
80  lightly  in  the  saddle  as  he  was,  been  quick  to  dig 
his  muscular  legs  into  the  horse's  sides,  and  had  not  the 
bridle  been  loosely  held  so  that  there  was  not  the  least 
pull  on  the  animal's  mouth,  there  would  surely  have 
been  a  heap  of  tumbled-up  and  prostrate  humanity 
floundering  in  the  soil,  and  sending  up  a  cloud  equal  to 
that  which  the  hoofs  of  the  great  fierce  monster  threw 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO   HUNT  BUFFALOES.  209 

into  tlie  air  at  every  lunge  of  liis  enormous  body.  No 
one  can  conceive  what  marvellous  activity  was  exhib- 
ited by  these  great  creatures  weighing  eight  hundred 
pounds,  and  cumbered  as  they  were  with  a  thick  matted 
coat  of  hair  about  the  head  and  shoulders,  which  alone 
seemed  enough  to  retard  their  celerity. 

As  this  battle  was  being  waged  by  these  two  deter- 
mined men  with  an  equally  resolute  foe,  they  firing  the 
pistols  held  constantly  cocked  and  aimed  at  the  fore- 
shoulder  of  the  buffalo,  there  was  still  a  fourth  assail- 
ant in  the  fray.  A  large  and  courageous  dog  had 
separated  himself  from  the  pack  and  followed  the 
hunters.  He  began  a  series  of  attacks  on  the  buffalo's 
hind-legs,  his  instinct  pointing  out,  if  not  the  vulner- 
able point,  still  one  that  was  likely  to  prove  a  telling 
one  on  the  animal's  nerves  and  temper. 

At  last  the  frantic  beast,  coming  just  short  of  gor- 
ing the  horses  that  darted  before  him,  condescended  to 
bend  his  huge  head  lower,  and  while  the  dog  leaped  to 
secure  another  hold  on  the  flying  legs,  the  ponderous 
creature  wheeled,  and  was  for  once  too  quick  for  the 
poor  canine.  He  tossed  him  thirty  feet  in  the  air,  and 
when  the  daring  dog  descended  to  the  upturned  turf  it 
seemed  as  if  his  last  yelp  of  pain  was  sounding. 

But  whatever  crunching  of  bones  went  on  in  his 
terrible  tumble,  those  of  his  legs  were  still  intact,  for 
he  rose  to  his  feet,  dragged  his  tail  between  his  legs, 
and  started  with  a  limp  and  a  howl  for  home,  possibly 
twenty  miles  away  over  a  country  without  landmarks. 

Still  the  buffalo  fought  on,  his  short,  tufted  tail,  that 
14 


210  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

usually  hangs  so  limp,  raised  in  air  and  waving  de- 
fiance. The  blood  at  last  trickled  from  his  nostrils, 
one  front-leg  went  under,  and  with  a  mighty  crash 
down  came  the  conquered  foe,  floundering  and  wallow- 
ing in  the  loosened  soil,  yielding  reluctantly  to  the 
bullet  that  had  pierced  his  side. 

As  we  women  watched  this  panorama  spread  at  our 
feet  we  were  filled  with  alarm,  and  trembling  with 
anxiety  one  moment,  triumphant  and  delighted  with 
the  horsemanship  the  next.  Several  buffaloes  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  field  were  down,  and  we  began  to  hope 
that  the  set  of  instruments  one  of  the  younger  sur- 
geons had  carelessly  exposed,  and  which  had  given  us 
shudders  when  we  started,  would  lie  in  their  case  undis- 
turbed. This  hope  was  suddenly  dissipated  when  we 
saw  one  of  the  riders  plunge  over  his  horse's  head,  and 
lie  motionless  on  the  ground.  There  were  three  wom- 
en who  could  not  breathe  except  in  gasps  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, and  the  unmarried  woman,  in  deep  sympathy, 
strained  her  eyes  to  see  if  the  wounded  man  could 
not  be  identified.  Our  gallant  escort,  the  doctor,  pity- 
ing the  suspense  of  those  who  feared  the  prostrate  man 
was  the  one  of  all  the  world  to  them,  rode  forward  and 
soon  brought  us  news.  A  sergeant's  horse,  getting  his 
foot  into  a  prairie-dog  hole,  had  thrown  him.  The 
officers  and  soldiers  gathered  about  the  prostrate  man, 
who  almost  instantly  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  declared 
himself  "all  right"  with  only  his  arm  sprained,  he 
thought.  The  young  surgeon  was  only  too  proud  to 
produce  the  instrument-case,  so  odious  to  us  in  the 


FIRST   WOMEN   TO   HUNT   BUFFALOES.  211 

morning ;  but  it  was  no  sprain.     The  arm  of  the  fine 
fellow  was  broken,  and  tlie  surgeon  had  work  to  do. 

However,  with  all  his  courage,  the  officers  feared  the 
man  would  faint,  and  there  was  wild  riding  about  to 
see  if  among  the  hunters  there  was  any  whiskey.  The 
young  follower  of  Esculapius,  familiarly  called  "  Little 
Pills,"  had  all  the  apparatus  to  cut  up  his  patients,  but 
nothing  to  resuscitate  them  afterwards.  Finally,  after 
a  fruitless  search  among  the  officers,  the  orderly  rode 
on  to  our  carriage  to  give  the  doctor's  compliments, 
and  ask  if  the  ladies  had  any  whiskey.  There  was  just 
a  momentary  smile  awakened,  but  a  real  round  laugh 
came  from  three  throats  when  one  of  us  asked  to  look 
under  the  carriage  seat,  where  the  wraps  and  extra 
necessaries  were  kept,  and  from  a  bag  a  little  flask  was 
quietly  brought  forth.  By  this  time  some  officers  had 
joined  us,  and  deep  and  long  was  the  peal  of  laughter 
that  they  gave,  for  the  woman  who  produced  the  whis- 
key was  the  one  of  the  four  who  never  tasted  it,  nor 
even  had  so  much  as  a  gill  in  her  house.  In  a  twin- 
kling this  little  joke  spread  among  the  hunters,  with 
the  following  questions  :  "  Who  produced  the  *  need- 
ful V  "  "  Why,  who  do  you  suppose  ? — Mrs.  So-and- 
So !"  At  sound  of  the  name  another  shout,  and  such 
ejaculations  as,  "  Well,  I  should  just  as  soon  have  ex- 
pected old  Gougli  himself  to  have  handed  out  a  flask 
from  his  pocket !"  and  it  was  in  vain  that  the  woman 
protested  that  she  had  "feared  accidents."  When  mer- 
ry people  want  to  get  a  joke  out  of  anything  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  turn  the  tide  into  another  channel. 


212  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

The  sergeant,  thanks  to  his  phick  and  to  his  splen- 
did physical  condition,  was  able  to  ride  back  to  garri- 
son, and  as  no  one  liad  much  heart  for  further  hunt- 
ing, we  all  turned  our  faces  in  the  direction  in  which 
the  compass  told  us  our  home  lay.  There  was  not 
a  distinguishing  mark  in  the  landscape  to  guide  us. 
The  utter  monotony  of  the  plains  prevents  any  one 
from  attempting  to  be  a  path-finder ;  and  sometimes  a 
boastful  one  among  us,  proud  of  his  bump  of  locality, 
attempted  to  find  his  way,  but  travelled  in  a  circle  in- 
variably as  the  lost  traveller  has  always  done.  Soon 
the  stars  came  out  to  light  and  guide  us  onward,  and 
at  ten  o'clock  we  entered  the  camp,  chaffing,  singing, 
and  chattering  in  spite  of  fatigue. 


jficc  Blarm. 


Go  get  your  buckets,  get  your  buckets,  Get  your  buck-ets, 


soldiers ;  Get  your  buckets,  get  your  buckets,  Get  your  buckets,  all. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


HUNTING    RECORDS. 


The  summer  on  Big  Creek  was  not  an  idle  one  for 
our  regiment,  thougli  the  village  of  white  canvas  seem- 
ed to  nestle  so  peacefully  in  the  bend  of  the  sinuous 
stream.  The  tents  represented  many  hundred  men, 
and  always  gave  that  impression  to  marauding  Ind- 
ians, who  hover  near  booty  in  the  shape  of  horses,  even 
if  they  do  not  take  regularly  to  the  war-path.  They 
estimate  numbers  among  themselves  by  the  tepees,  al- 
lowing so  many  warriors  to  a  lodge.  But  two-thirds 
of  our  tents  were  often  empty,  as  two  or  three  scout- 
ing parties  might  be  out  at  one  time. 

There  were  several  young  graduates,  who  came  from 
West  Point  that  summer,  who  sighed  to  make  a  record, 
hearing  every  day  with  envious  ears  the  constant  ref- 
erence to  the  glorious  success  of  the  Washita.  These 
youths  were  called  "  tads "  and  "  plebes,"  and  treated 


214  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

in  alialf-contemptuous  manner  by  officers  of  their  own 
age  possibly,  but  whose  one  successful  winter's  cam- 
paign lifted  them  a  generation  beyond.  The  exultant 
way  in  which  these  youngsters  strutted  about  after- 
wards, when  they  had  been  in  a  fight,  and  the  vaunt- 
ing tone  they  assumed  when  they  told  me  no  one  could 
call  them  "tads"  or  "plebes"  now,  was  amusing  to 
one  who  believed  that  the  most  delightful  paths  were 
those  of  peace.  Still  there  was  so  much  teasing  that 
I  was  inclined  always  to  side  with  the  minority,  for 
in  the  general  tormenting  I  often  felt  the  need  of  a 
champion  myself.  No  one  but  these  embryo  warriors 
sighed  for  war.  It  is  a  mistaken  impression  that  our 
army  hailed  the  anticipation  of  a  fighting  campaign 
with  delight.  The  change  from  their  dull  life  to  one 
of  variety  made  our  people  rejoice  at  the  prospect  of 
active  duty,  but  to  fight  Indians  was  not  their  desire. 
The  outrages  that  brought  on  the  winter's  campaign 
had  fired  all  hearts  with  the  determination  that  pun- 
ishment should  be  inflicted ;  but  now  that  peace  had 
been  established,  the  whole  command  believed  in  doing 
everything  to  preserve  it.  I  lately  came  across  a  tele- 
gram that  General  Custer  sent  to  General  Sheridan 
that  summer,  which  has  been  preserved  only  by  acci- 
dent, but  which  bears  upon  this  subject : 

(Confidential.) 

Hays  City,  Kansas. 
Lieutenant-geiural  SJieridan,  Chicago,  III. : 

Without  delicate  handling  of  the  Indian  question  by  per- 
sons of  experience  in  Indian  affairs,  we  are  liable  to  lose  all 


HUNTING   RECORDS.  215 

benefit  of  our  last  winter's  campaign,  and  be  plunged  into 
another  general  war  with  the  southern  tribes.  I  think  this 
can  be  avoided.  G.  A.  Custer, 

Brevet  Major-General. 

There  were  parties  of  northern  hostiles  in  our  vicin- 
ity often,  and  sometimes,  had  they  known  how  many 
of  tlie  tents  were  empty,  it  would  have  been  an 
easy  affair  to  have  overcome  us.  The  coming  or  going 
of  the  scouting  parties  was  a  fresh  occasion  of  interest 
every  time.  It  was  General  Custer's  policy  to  keep 
troops  travelling  all  the  summer.  Though  he  did  not 
hope  to  engage  the  wily  red  men  in  open  combat  while 
their  ponies  were  in  sufficiently  good  condition  to  en- 
able them  to  run,  still  he  did  not  mean  to  permit  them 
to  think  that  our  people  were  not  ready  for  them. 

Sometimes  on  these  scouts  the  officers  and  men  kill- 
ed enough  game  to  give  us  all  a  treat  on  their  return. 
Of  all  the  scouting  parties  that  summer,  our  brother 
Tom  and  another  officer  had  the  best  shooting  score. 
On  the  return  to  camp  they  harrowed  the  rest  by  de- 
scribing their  success.  They  had  had  deer,  antelope, 
elk,  and  wild  turkey  every  day ;  while  we  had  been 
blessed  with  little  besides  buffalo-meat,  as  the  cars  had 
frightened  away  the  more  timid  game.  They  saw  two 
different  herds  of  elks  which  numbered  about  a  hun- 
dred each.  They  brought  in  the  splendid  antlers  of 
one,  which  were  six  feet  in  height,  and  so  wide  that  we 
seemed  to  have  no  place  large  enough  to  put  them. 
Tom  said,  prosaically,  when  we  were  hunting  for 
words  grand  enough  to  describe  them,  "Oh,  the  ani- 


216  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

mal  looked  as  if  he  had  a  chair-factory  on  his  head !" 
Tom  was  alone  when  he  saw  the  owner  of  those  branch- 
ing horns.  Three  elks  were  approaching  him.  Jump- 
ing from  his  horse,  he  tied  him  to  a  bush,  and  shot 
the  leader  of  the  three,  a  noble  buck ;  the  other  two 
stopped  to  look  at  him,  and  without  changing  his  posi- 
tion he  shot  the  second.  The  elks,  like  the  deer  and 
antelopes,  occasionally  make  themselves  easy  prey  for 
the  hunter,  because  of  their  curiosity.  I  know  that 
Colonel  Tom  let  the  elks  he  shot  approach,  gazing  at 
him,  till  within  seventy  yards  before  he  took  aim. 

In  one  of  General  Custer's  letters  to  a  friend,  whom 
he  was  trying  to  persuade  to  join  him  in  camp,  he  de- 
scribes some  of  his  own  successes : 

I  wish  that  you  could  have  been  with  me  on  some  of  my 
elk-hunts.  I  killed  three  in  one  run  of  four  miles.  A  party 
of  us  killed  sixteen  in  one  day.  At  another  time,  without 
even  stirring  out  of  my  tracks,  I  shot,  off-hand,  three  ante- 
lopes the  nearest  of  which  was  three  hundred  and  twenty 
yards.  I  aimed  each  time  at  a  single  animal  and  not  at  a  herd. 
Day  before  yesterday  I  saw  a  fine  buck  antelope  standing 
full  front  towards  me ;  I  could  see  only  his  head  and  part  of 
his  neck  above  the  grass.  I  fired,  and  dropped  him  ;  the  dis- 
tance was  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  yards,  and  the  ball 
entered  his  neck  as  accurately  as  if  I  had  been  close  enough 
to  touch  it  with  the  muzzle  of  the  gun.  You  should  have 
been  with  me  the  day  I  shot  the  big  buck  elsewhere  referred 
to  in  my  letter  to  you. 

After  wounding  him  badly,  and  having  a  fine  chase  after 
him  mounted  and  with  the  stag-hounds,  he  took  to  the  river, 
and  the  dogs  after  him.  Talk  about  Landseer's  engraving ! 
I  would  not  give  the  sight  I  witnessed  that  day  for  all  the 


HUNTING   RECORDS.  217 

engravings  ever  framed.  The  buck  could  stand  on  the  bot- 
tom, but  the  dogs  had  to  swim.  One  seized  him  by  the  ear, 
another  by  the  nose,  others  were  catching  at  his  sides  and 
neck,  while  he  was  striking  right  and  left,  sometimes  catch- 
ing a  dog  and  keeping  him  in  the  water  until  I  lost  all  hope 
of  ever  seeing  him  alive  again.  The  marks  of  the  dogs'  teeth 
are  in  the  buck's  ears  and  along  his  sides,  where  they  endeav- 
ored to  jump  up  and  seize  him  as  he  ran.  All  this  time  I 
was  on  the  river-bank,  within  twenty  yards  of  the  conflict, 
rifle  in  hand,  and  vainly  watching  an  opportunity  to  put  a 
ball  in  and  end  the  battle  and  save  the  lives  of  my  dogs  ;  but 
so  active  and  mixed  up  were  elk  and  dogs  that  for  a  long 
time  I  was  unable  to  aim  at  the  elk  without  at  the  same 
time  covering  a  dog,  until  finally  all  the  dogs  concentrated 
at  and  about  his  head,  when  I  quickly  sent  a  rifle-ball  through 
his  loins,  and  thus  terminated  one  of  the  most  exciting  hunt- 
ing scenes  I  ever  witnessed.  I  sent  back  for  a  wagon,  and 
had  him  carried  to  camp  entire.  His  photograph  was  taken 
as  he  lay  in  front  of  my  tent,  I,  in  my  buckskins,  seated  on 
the  ground  near  his  head.  He  was  about  fifteen  hands  high, 
and  his  estimated  weight,  dressed,  was  eight  hundred  pounds. 
Fortunately  I  have  learned  the  principles  of  taxidermy,  and 
I  have  preserved  in  splendid  order  not  only  the  antlers,  head, 
and  neck,  but  the  skin  and  hoofs  of  the  entire  animal,  so  that 
it  can  be  mounted  as  "  natural  as  life."  The  zoologists  ac- 
companying us  think  it  is  the  finest  specimen  of  the  elk  any- 
where in  the  United  States. 

On  many  of  General  Custer's  hunts  lie  took  an  Ind- 
ian scout — one  of  those  who  came  from  a  friendly  tribe 
— to  accompany  the  expeditions,  and  run  a  trail,  or 
carry  despatches  back  to  the  posts,  or  from  one  offi- 
cer in  the  field  to  another  commanding  an  expedi- 
tion.  These  Indians  were  sometimes  very  faithful,  and 


218  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

every  kindness  was  shown  them.  They  were  like  chil- 
dren, full  of  humors,  often  sulking  for  days  over  im- 
aginary injuries ;  but,  with  patience,  much  valuable 
service  could  be  had  from  them.  They  knew  the 
country  so  well,  and  were  so  acquainted  with  its  to- 
pography, that  they  could  take  a  pointed  stick  and 
draw  an  intelligible  map  in  the  sand  when  they  tried  to 
explain  the  route  our  troops  wished  to  take,  or  the  en- 
campment of  the  hostile  Indians.  In  the  picture  in 
the  frontispiece,  a  copy  of  a  photograph,  General  Cus- 
ter is  represented  holding  a  map  which  his  celebrated 
scout  Bloody  Knife  is  studying,  while  another  scout 
and  the  half-breed  interpreter  stand  near.  It  was  stu- 
pid work  for  Bloody  Knife  to  remain  about  garrison 
when  there  was  no  expedition  in  progress,  and  he  be- 
came as  nearly  animated  as  he  ever  allowed  himself 
to  be  if  word  were  sent  for  him  to  go  on  the  hunt,  if  he 
wished  to  do  so.  The  good  shots  of  our  officers  did 
not  go  unnoticed ;  and  I  remember  that  Bloody  Knife 
entreated  General  Custer  to  be  cautious  when  he  shot 
his  first  grizzly  bear  in  the  Yellowstone. 

The  elks  were  so  much  larger  than  other  game  that 
the  officers  often  lost  their  first  shots  from  buck-fever. 
I  could  readily  understand  it,  for  the  first  one  I  ever 
saw  so  startled  me  t>hat  it  seemed  as  if  some  old  fossil 
of  the  Megatherium  period  had  sprung  out  of  the  pet- 
rified earth  and  taken  up  life  again.  The  huge  animal 
was  lying  down  very  near  the  place  selected  for  our 
camp  ;  and  hearing  our  voices  as  we  sat  on  the  ground 
waiting  for  our  tents  to  be  pitched,  he  leaped  into  the 


HUNTING  RECORDS.  219 

air,  and  bounded  off  like  a  gazelle  instead  of  a  beast 
of  such  proportions.  His  antlers  rose,  seemingly,  as 
far  above  his  head  as  his  head  was  from  the  ground. 
Colonel  Tom  said  it  was  as  large  as  a  large-sized  mule. 
With  almost  as  quick  a  leap  as  the  game.  General  Cus- 
ter sprang  for  his  rifle,  flung  himself  on  an  unsaddled 
horse,  and  sped  over  the  ground  after  the  splendid 
game,  but  it  had  too  much  the  start  of  him,  and  we 
lost  the  elk-steak  that,  in  his  brief  absence,  our  men 
had  begun  to  count  on  for  their  dinner.  Elks  were  rare 
along  any  route  that  was  travelled ;  so  that  it  was  an 
immense  privilege  if,  when  the  officers  went  off  for  a 
distance  on  a  scout,  or  a  hunt  was  planned  that  took 
us  away  twenty  miles  or  so,  we  had  the  good-fortune 
to  include  that  animal  in  the  game  killed. 

It  was  not  an  every-day  affair  to  go  hunting,  howev- 
er; for,  to  find  buffaloes  in  abundance,  we  were  obliged 
to  travel  some  miles,  and  the  knowledge  tliat  the  north- 
ern Indians  were  hovering  near  much  of  the  time 
made  it  a  risk  to  ride  without  an  escort.  Our  dogs 
sometimes  hunted  by  themselves  when  tired  of  wait- 
ing to  be  taken  out.  In  one  of  General  Custer's  letters 
to  the  same  friend  mentioned  before,  he  speaks  with 
pride  of  the  ambition  which  took  the  hounds  off  by 
themselves : 

My  dogs  hunt  up  and  down  the  creek  every  day.  Last 
night  a  man  living  eight  miles  below  here  came  to  camp 
and  told  me  that  four  of  my  dogs — Lufra,  Juno,  Blucher,  and 
Maida — had  driven  a  large  buffalo  near  his  ranch,  and  that  he 
had  gone  to  them  when  he  found  the  buffalo  about  used  up 


220  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

and  unable  to  get  away,  and  that  they  would  have  killed  it 
alone  but  he  finished  it  with  his  rifle.  They  had  probably 
been  running  it  for  several  miles.  I  call  that  pretty  good 
work  for  green  dogs.  I  took  them  with  me  the  other 
day,  and  it  was  sport.  Juno  sprang  right  at  the  nose  the 
first  time  she  ever  saw  a  buffalo.  Lufra  took  the  ear,  and 
Blucher  got  hold  of  the  side.  Juno  is  as  savage  as  a  tiger, 
and  so  is  Lufra. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  remember  a  man  with  more 
temerity  than  the  ranchman  to  whom  General  Custer 
refers.  He  lived  alone,  and  seemed  perfectly  insensible 
to  fear.  His  place  was  a  sort  of  a  Mecca  to  ns.  The 
nearest  ranch  besides  his  was  eighty  miles  distant,  ad- 
joining the  town  of  Ellsworth.  To  see  growing  things 
that  had  been  planted  and  were  allowed  to  advance 
without  either  being  compelled  to  move  and  leave 
tliem,  as  we  usually  were,  or  to  hear  of  their  destruction 
by  the  Indians  while  the  first  shoots  were  starting,  as 
in  the  case  of  hundreds  of  ranchmen  at  that  time,  was 
an  event  in  life  ;  and  I  remember  how  "  homey  "  the 
rows  of  potatoes,  the  hills  of  corn,  and  the  climbing 
beans  seemed  after  years  without  the  sight  of  a  garden. 
The  man  had  made  himself  very  comfortable  in  his  dug- 
out in  the  side  of  a  bank ;  and  even  that  I  envied,  for 
the  wind  could  not  toy  with  his  habitation  and  blow  it 
away  as  it  did  our  "rag  houses."  I  confess  to  great 
curiosity  as  to  what  circumstances  in  the  States  had 
been  so  disastrous  as  to  make  him  willing  to  leave  every 
one  and  risk  his  life  down  on  that  lonely  creek.  Our 
men,  with  one  voice,  attributed  it  to  some  woman's 


HUNTING  RECORDS.  221 

work.  "Depend  upon  it," they  said,  "he  prefers  the 
wilderness  to  being  nagged  to  death  in  the  States." 
If  I  suggested  that  lie  might  be  a  fugitive  from  jus- 
tice I  was  silenced  by  a  laughing,  teasing  retort  to 
the  effect  that  some  men  were  more  fortunate  than 
others :  a  desert  like  ours  would  frighten  most  wom- 
en, but  there  were  others  who  could  penetrate  any 
wilderness  and  pursue  a  man  into  the  extremest  soli- 
tude. 

One  night  we  were  trying  to  entertain  an  officer 
from  another  station,  and  a  ride  was  our  only  resource, 
as  it  was  impossible  to  get  up  a  hunt  for  some  reason, 
I  have  forgotten  what.  We  started  off,  a  gay,  rollick- 
ing party,  three  women,  with  perhaps  twenty  officers, 
and  a  few  orderlies.  All  the  dogs  of  the  regiment 
were  with  us,  apparently — from  the  lofty  and '  high- 
born stag-hounds  down  to  the  little  "feist,"  or  mon- 
grel, of  the  trooper,  whose  plebeian  tail,  that  usually 
curled  over  his  back,  was  now  drooping,  and  his  sides 
panting  with  the  speed  he  had  to  keep  up.  "We  laugh- 
ed and  sang  as  we  let  our  horses  out,  and  the  college 
choruses  or  West  Point  songs  rang  on  the  air  as  clear- 
ly and  joyously  as  if  we  had  been  riding  down  a  safe 
country  glade  at  home.  Of  course,  with  the  unusual 
spectacle  of  a  garden  within  eight  miles  of  the  camp  to 
show,  we  followed  the  creek,  and  enjoyed  the  surprise 
of  our  guest's  face  when  the  domestic  turnip  and  the 
thrifty  beet  of  civihzation  greeted  his  sight.  This  was 
our  last  ride  so  far  without  an  escort,  for  the  next  day 
news  came  that  the  Indians  had  crossed  the  stream  the 


FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

night  before,  burned  the  first  stage-station,  and  killed 
the  men  in  charge. 

The  red  man  has  exhibited  great  awe  of  telegraph 
lines,  believing  that  there  was  something  supernatural 
in  their  workings,  and  for  this  fortunate  reason,  in  our 
worst  border  troubles,  many  a  warning  was  flashed 
along  the  wires  when  an  attack  was  even  so  much  as 
anticipated ;  but  in  this  instance  the  lawless  band,  set- 
ting at  defiance  superstitious  fears,  had  cut  the  wire, 
and  in  torturing  the  men  bits  of  it  had  been  stuck  in 
their  flesh  beside  the  arrow  that  every  Indian  leaves  in 
a  dead  body,  whether  it  be  sent  from  the  bow  before 
or  after  the  fatal  shot. 

There  was  one  caution  that  the  officers  dinned  in  our 
ears  day  after  day — namely,  that  we  women  should  nev- 
er leave  camp  alone  even  for  a  stroll.  We  were  usual- 
ly obedient  about  this,  for  we  felt  always  that  we  had 
been  brought  out  on  sufferance,  as  it  were.  Great  trou- 
ble had  been  taken  to  prepare  for  us,  and  all  had  been 
done  with  the  understanding  that  we  should  not  allow 
ourselves  to  be  in  the  way.  These  warnings  about  tlie 
Indians  were  "line  upon  line"  with  General  Custer, 
and  he  had  only  to  refer  to  the  captives  I  had  seen 
soon  after  their  release  to  elicit  promises  of  caution 
from  me.  It  was  due  to  events  like  the  capture  of  the 
Box  family  that  the  winter's  campaign  in  the  Washita 
country  had  been  undertaken.  While  we  were  at  Fort 
Riley  the  mother  and  three  daughters  were  brought  to 
the  post.  Their  release  had  been  effected  by  the  tact 
of  our  officers,  and  by  the  payment  of  a  large  ransom. 


HUNTING  RECORDS. 

At  the  time  of  their  capture  a  year  previous,  the 
father  and  one  babe  were  killed  at  once.  The  mother 
and  her  daughters — one  a  girl  of  eighteen,  another  ten, 
and  the  third  three  years  old — were  bound  on  ponies 
and  started  on  the  march.  The  mother  was  allowed  to 
carry  the  child  still  younger,  but  the  infant's  crying 
angered  the  savages,  and  they  dashed  its  little  brains 
out  against  a  tree  before  the  anguished  mother's  eyes. 
When  the  division  of  spoils  and  prisoners  was  made, 
the  three  children  and  the  mother  were  separated,  and 
assigned  to  different  bands  of  the  same  tribe.  I  could 
not  find  any  language  to  repeat  what  the  poor  mother 
and  eldest  daughter  told  me  of  their  horrible  sufferings 
during  the  year  of  their  captivity.  Their  melancholy 
was  most  heart-rending,  for  even  their  release  from 
captivity  would  not  bring  them  back  to  the  husband 
and  father  so  dear  to  them,  or  put  in  the  maternal 
arms  the  two  little  innocent  infants  that  had  been 
murdered. 

The  little  girl  of  ten,  when  separated  from  her  moth- 
er, grieved  and  mourned  so  that,  to  stifle  her  sobs  and 
prevent  her  repeating  them,  the  Indians  had  burned 
the  soles  of  her  feet.  She  turned  them  up  to  show  me 
the  scars  as  I  sat  in  the  midst  of  this  pitiful  group. 
The  girl,  then  nineteen  years  old,  in  the  captivity  which 
was  worse  than  death,  had  lost  all  trace  of  girlhood. 
Had  she  been  retained  as  the  property  of  one  chief  her 
fate  would  have  been  more  deplorable  than  any  that  a 
woman  ever  endures,  but  even  this  misery  was  inten- 
sified, for  she  was  traded  from  one  chief  to  another  in 


224  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

the  everlasting  dickering  that  the  Indians  keep  up. 
The  suffering  of  tliese  poor  captives  made  a  lasting 
impression  on  me.  I  had  not  been  long  away  from  a 
home  where  my  parents  not  only  shielded  me  from  all 
sorrow  and  trouble,  but  guarded  me  from  even  tales  of 
misery  which  would  have  made  a  spot  on  the  sun  of  a 
most  radiant  girlhood. 

Still,  this  story  of  suffering  was  not  considered 
enough  by  General  Custer  to  warn  me  against  taking 
any  risks  where  Indians  roamed.  He  came  to  me  after 
that,  while  we  were  stopping  a  day  or  two  at  the  hotel 
in  Leavenworth,  to  ask  me  to  see  a  distracted  man  with 
whom  he  had  been  talking.  When  I  found  that  the 
man  was  almost  wild  with  grief  over  the  capture  of 
his  wife  by  Indians,  and  the  murder  of  his  children,  I 
begged  to  be  spared  witnessing  such  a  painful  sight 
when  I  could  do  no  good.  The  reply  was  that  sym- 
pathy was  something  every  one  needed,  and  I  made 
no  further  resistance.  The  man  was  as  nearly  a  mad- 
man as  can  be.  His  eyes  wild,  frenzied,  and  sunken 
with  grief,  his  voice  weak  with  suffering,  his  tear- 
stained,  haggard  face — all  told  a  terrible  tale  of  what 
he  had  been  and  was  enduring.  He  wildly  waved  his 
arms  as  he  paced  the  floor  like  some  caged  thing,  and 
implored  General  Custer  to  use  his  influence  to  organ- 
ize an  expedition  to  secure  the  release  of  his  wife.  He 
turned  to  me  with  trembling  tones,  describing  the  re- 
turn to  his  desolated  cabin.  As  he  came  from  the 
field  where  he  was  at  work,  full  of  pleasure  at  ap- 
proaching the  rude  hut  where  he  had  left  his  little 


HUNTING   RECORDS.  225 

ones  playing  about  the  door,  he  saw  no  sign  of  life,  no 
movement  of  any  kind ;  no  little  feet  ran  out  to  meet 
him,  no  piping  voice  called  a  welcome  to  him.  "With 
the  darkest  forebodings — for  those  were  troublous  days 
to  the  early  settler — he  began  to  run,  and,  near  some 
logs,  he  almost  fell  upon  the  dead  and  mutilated  body 
of  one  child.  Not  far  off  was  a  little  shoe,  and  some 
light  hair,  evidently  torn  from  the  downy  head  of  an- 
other child,  and  a  few  steps  from  the  door  the  two 
younger  children  lay  in  pools  of  blood,  their  little 
heads  scalped,  their  soft  flesh  still  pierced  with  arrows. 
Worse  by  far  was  the  further  discovery  that  awaited 
him.  The  silence  in  the  cabin  told  its  awful  tale,  and 
he  knew,  without  entering,  that  the  mother  of  the  lit- 
tle ones  had  met  with  the  horrible  fate  which  every 
woman  in  those  days  considered  worse  than  death. 
General  Custer  was  so  moved  by  this  story  that  he 
could  not  speak,  and  I  became  so  unnerved  that  it  was 
many  a  night  before  I  could  shut  my  eyes  without  see- 
ing the  little  yellow  heads  of  those  innocent  children 
clotted  with  blood,  and  their  sightless  blue  eyes  turned 
to  heaven  as  if  for  redress.  The  lesson  was  effectual 
for  a  time,  for  not  only  was  I  moved  to  deepest  pity 
for  the  bereaved  man,  but  I  became  so  terrified  that  I 
could  not  even  ride  out  of  camp  with  an  escort  with- 
out inward  quakings,  and  every  strange  or  unaccount- 
able speck  on  the  horizon  meant  to  me  a  lurking  foe. 
15 


AC00, 


lot      a sin  -  gl( 

3 ^ 


Soup  -  y,    soup  -  y,    soup  -  y, 


sin  -  gle    bean ; 


Pork-y,     pork-y,      pork  -  y, 


not 


bit     of    cream 


ptreak  of     lean. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


ARMY     HOUSE-KEEPING. 


I  HAVE  often  been  asked  questions  about  house-keep- 
ing on  the  frontier — liow  we  furnished  our  quarters, 
what  occupations  we  had,  and  other  similar  matters. 
There  were  no  conveniences  for  house-keeping ;  we 
had  little  furniture,  and  we  women  occupied  ourselves 
mostly  in  finding  amusement  for  the  men,  who  looked 
to  us  for  diversion  in  their  leisure  hours.  In  the  sum- 
mer, while  the  regiment  was  absent  on  a  campaign,  our 
lives  were  occupied  with  reading  and  domestic  detail 
in  order  to  fill  up  the  time  and  make  it  go  faster.  In 
the  winter  we  tried  to  vary  the  monotony  of  the  table 
with  all  the  ingenuity  we  were  capable  of,  in  order  to 
make  up  to  our  men  for  the  deprivations  of  the  sum- 
mer, when  they  were  on  the  march. 

Government  wastes  no  money  in  ornamenting  army 


ARMY   HOUSE-KEEPING.  227 

quarters.  They  are  severely  plain,  with  plastered  walls, 
wood-work  that  was  once  painted,  perliaps,  but  bears 
little  trace  of  the  brush  now.  On  the  plains  they  were 
usually  disfigured  by  huge  stoves,  unless  one  fought, 
as  we  did,  for  one  room  with  an  open.  fire.  It  was  very 
hard  to  give  a  cosey,  home-like  look  to  a  sitting-room 
without  blinds,  with  plastered  walls,  and  without  an 
open  fire. 

The  kitchen  was  the  exasperating  place.  It  often 
lacked  the  simplest  contrivances  to  make  work  easy. 
I  remember  an  army  friend  who  began  her  frontier  life 
during  the  Mexican  war.  She  was  fearless  in  stating 
her  opinions,  and  was  dreaded  by  the  quartermaster  be- 
cause of  the  determined  manner  in  which  she  went  at 
him  when  it  was  necessary  to  have  her  house  repaired 
or  painted.  People  used  to  say  that  he  habitually 
went  round  by  the  rear  of  the  quarters,  trying  to  avoid 
her,  as  she  often  came  out  on  the  piazza  to  intercept 
him.  Once,  however,  I  heard  him  receiving  a  very 
pronounced  expression  of  her  views,  and  the  last  word 
sent  after  him,  as  he  pleaded  "  pressing  business,"  was, 
"Next  time  you  build  army  quarters  do,  in  pity's  name, 
ask  your  wife  how  a  kitchen  ought  to  be  built." 

It  really  did  seem  as  if  whoever  planned  our  kitch- 
ens had  never  considered  for  a  moment  that  the 
"  women  who  work  from  sun  to  sun,  and  whose  work 
is  never  done,"  would  be  blessed  by  even  the  smallest 
effort  to  lighten  their  labors.  Fortunately  our  cooks 
were  colored  women.  Army  people  like  the  negroes, 
and  find  a  quality  of  devotion  in  them  that  is  most 


FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

grateful  when  one  is  so  dependent  on  servants,  as  every 
one  is  in  military  life.  As  the  Southern  cook  is  taught 
to  live  in  kitchens  built  outside,  and  to  cook  by  a  fire- 
place with  few  modern  utensils,  we  were  not  distressed 
by  "  warnings,"  as  we  should  undoubtedly  have  been 
had  a  servant  accustomed  to  an  Eastern  kitchen  been 
consigned  to  ours. 

The  quartermaster's  own  house  was  something  to 
turn  us  all  green  with  envy,  for  he  had  all  the  work- 
men at  his  disposal.  It  was  painted,  had  closets,  with 
little  shelves  here  and  there,  that  women  dote  on,  and 
many  trifles  that  seemed  to  us  the  sum  and  substance 
of  domestic  elegance,  for  everything  was  comparative 
there  in  those  days  of  deprivation.  We  women  called 
on  his  pretty,  fascinating  wife,  and  loved  her  in  spite 
of  her  superior  environments ;  but  our  roaming  eyes 
took  in  every  improvement,  and  we  went  out  to  say,  at 
a  safe  distance,  "  I  don't  blame  her^  but  I  would  like 
to  read  him  a  lesson  on  equal  distribution." 

There  was  joy  in  garrison  one  morning  when  a  little 
tale  of  what  we  considered  a  case  of  justice  meted  out 
came  travelling  along  from  one  woman  to  another.  It 
was  Christmas  morning,  and  though  there  were  no 
chimes  to  ring  us  up,  no  carols  to' delight  our  ears,  we 
felt  convivial  even  over  the  extra  nap  with  which  we 
celebrated  the  day.  The  quartermaster,  sleeping  in  his 
comfortable  bed,  was  called  out  in  the  gray  of  early 
dawn,  that  coldest  chill,  just  before  daybreak,  striking 
him  as  he  went  barefooted  through  his  hall,  while  his 
heart  was  beating  with  alarm  for  fear  of  disaster  or 


AKMY   HOUSE-KEEPING. 


lire,  as  he  answered  the  bell,  "  Glad  he  was  punished 
for  having  a  bell  when  we  had  none,"  we  said,  savagely, 
when  we  heard  this.  On  opening  the  door  a  dishev- 
elled tipsy  Jezebel  of  a  camp-woman,  bracing  herself 
against  the  wood-work  as  best  she  could,  said  to  him, 
"  It's  cold,  and  my  nose  bleeds,"  and  with  this  infor- 
mation she  departed.  The  woman  who  clamored  for 
paint,  another  who  appealed  in  vain  for  necessary  re- 
pairs, had  no  compunctions  in  laughing  at  this  case  of 
woman's  inhumanity  to  man,  and  if  we  suffered  for 
anything  after  that,  we  summed  up  every  misery  with 
the  words,  "  It's  cold,  and  my  nose  bleeds." 

There  was  no  sink  in  the  kitchen  or  outside.  The 
cook  opened  the  door  and  flung  the  contents  of  the 
dishpan  or  garbage  bucket  as  far  to  one  side  as  the 
vigorous  force  of  her  arms  would  send  it.  This  always 
left  an  unsightly  spot,  to  which  we  were  compelled  to 
shut  our  eyes,  as  there  was  no  remedy.  The  prisoners 
of  a  post  have  as  their  punishment  the  duty  of  cutting 
wood  and  policing  the  garrison,  which  means  an  attempt 
to  keep  it  clean.  If  they  lingered  in  our  yard  longer 
than  in  another,  a  careful  study  of  the  scene  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  sergeant  who  guarded  them  was  being  re- 
galed with  coffee,  with  the  unusual  luxury  to  them  of 
condensed  milk ;  and  after  the  ranking  officer  (for  rank 
tells  even  that  far  down  in  the  scale)  had  feasted,  came 
the  appeal  of  the  soldiers  under  him  turning  hungry 
eyes  towards  the  kitchen,  and  saying,  in  a  voice  that 
was  so  modulated  as  to  "  carry  "  no  farther  than  was 
necessary,  '^Say,  you  wouldn't  see  a  fellow  starve?"  or 


230  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

"  You  hain't  got  none  of  those  fine  white  biscuit,  have 
you?" 

Generally  after  these  healthful,  able-bodied  men  had 
cut  a  few  sticks  they  wearily  sat  down  and  eyed  the 
house,  waiting  for  the  door  to  open.  They  resorted  to 
any  subterfuge  to  prolong  their  stay  out  of  the  guard- 
house. There  was  nothing  like  it  except  the  crescent 
of  dogs  that  replaced  them  about  the  kitchen  door, 
whining,  and  uttering  short  suggestive  barks  until  our 
Eliza,  exasperated  beyond  control,  burst  open  the  door 
and  hurled  any  convenient  missile  at  them,  always 
accompanied  by  invectives  anything  but  flattering  to 
their  character. 

I  ought  not  to  leave  the  impression  that  Uncle  Sam 
neglected  his  wards.  The  prisoners  were  abundantly 
fed  at  the  guard-house.  The  army  ration  is  so  large 
that  few  instances  have  been  known  where  one  man 
was  able  to  consume  it.  Our  dogs  also  were  especially 
provided  for  by  us.  A  huge  kettle  of  mush  was  boiled 
with  meat,  bones,  and  grease ;  but  they,  like  the  sol- 
diers, preferred  what  they  considered  dainties  from  the 
family  table.  As  for  water,  it  was  kept  in  barrels  out- 
side the  door.  Over  the  one  especially  for  drinking 
and  culinary  purposes  there  was  an  effort  made  to  keep 
a  cover  securely  fastened  down  with  a  convenient  stone, 
and  this  was  emptied  every  day ;  but  the  others  were 
open  to  the  winds  of  heaven,  as  a  board  to  cover  any- 
thing was  hardly  to  be  had  at  all.  We  had  enough 
cotton-wood  timber  sawed  at  the  Government  mill  near 
the  river ;  but  should  that  be  used  it  would  warp  into 


ARMY   HOrSE-KEEpiNG,  281 

a  curve  almost  in  a  day,  and  the  dogs  tilting  and  jog- 
gling it  could  dislodge  such  a  cover  easily.  As  tlie 
plains  winds  are  never  lulled,  all  the  floating  grass, 
leaves,  and  dust  found  a  resting-place  in  the  water. 
These  foreign  substances  soon  offered  a  home  for  "  wig- 
glers,"  which  in  an  incredible  time  were  transformed 
into  mosquitoes. 

The  water  was  very  hard,  and  it  was  diflficult  to  make 
a  successful  Monday  without  a  labor  of  preparation, 
for  there  were  straining,  settling,  and  softening  with 
alum  to  be  done.  White  of  eggs  is  advised  by  the 
cook-books ;  but,  considering  that  we  were  not  likely 
to  get  either  the  yolk  or  white  of  an  egg  to  eat  for 
months  at  a  time,  we  were  not  very  likely  to  waste 
them  (when  we  had  them)  on  the  water-barrels.  When 
the  clothes  were  finally  on  the  line,  then  came  the 
struggles  to  keep  them  there.  The  wind  blew  them 
over  the  prairie  if  they  were  not  most  securely  fastened, 
and  rarely  did  Eliza  return  from  the  line  without  talk- 
ing to  herself  in  an  ominous  way,  as  the  corners  of  the 
strong  table-covers  and  sheets  were  whipped  into  fringe, 
while  articles  that  were  becoming  tender  with  age  were 
frequently  in  ribbons. 

On  the  awful  Mondays  that  we  called  "  black  Fri- 
days "  we  took  turns  in  giving  our  cook  an  order,  if  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  give  her  any.  It  was  very 
odd  to  hear  a  grown  person,  the  head  of  the  house,  per- 
haps, say,  "  You  tackle  Eliza  this  time,  I  did  the  last 
time." 

Once  we  were  stationed  in  the  States  for  a  short 


232  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

time,  and  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  a  house,  as  there 
were  none  to  rent  in  the  small  town,  and  naturally  the 
citizens  were  averse  to  moving  out  in  order  to  lease 
us  theirs.  Finally  an  officer  on  General  Custer's  staff 
found  a  place,  and  as  our  cook  was  absent  at  the  time, 
we  decided  to  try  co-operative  house-keeping,  I  taking 
charge  one  week,  and  the  wife  of  the  officer  the  next. 
We  tried  to  have  every  dainty  of  the  market  on  our 
table.  After  our  long  season  of  enforced  frugality  on 
the  plains,  we  felt  ourselves  entitled  to  all  the  season 
afforded.  We  sat  round  the  open  fire  at  night  and 
planned  new  dishes  for  the  next  day.  We  revelled  in 
a  house  fully  furnished,  for  so  we  had  rented  it,  and 
drew  comparisons  between  it  and  our  army  quarters, 
where  there  were  often  vacant  spaces  and  yawning  gaps 
in  place  of  furniture,  to  which  we  never  could  attain. 
The  closets  bewildered  us,  so  long  had  we  suffered  for 
such  conveniences.  We  lost  our  things,  having  so  much 
space,  and  the  men  said  that  they  owed  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  their  government  for  the  privilege  of  quickly 
finding  their  coats  and  pantaloons,  which  heretofore 
had  been  hidden  under  a  mass  of  dresses  and  petticoats. 
Our  friend's  cook  had  lived  long  on  the  frontier,  for 
she  was  a  soldier's  wife,  and  being  out  at  service  with 
the  officers,  she  was  accustomed  to  husband  all  supplies 
most  carefully,  not  knowing  when  they  would  be  re- 
placed ;  there  was  in  consequence  a  distressing  meagre- 
ness  about  her  dishes,  and  hardly  a  suspicion  of  butter 
in  anything  she  prepared.  We  requested  her  to  use 
more  material,  adding  that  while  we  had  the  opportu- 


ARMY   HOUSE-KEEPING.  233 

nity  we  desired  to  live  well,  as  we  never  knew  at  what 
hour  we  might  be  ordered  out  to  the  frontier,  where 
deprivations  were  the  order  of  the  day.  The  cook, 
quite  devoted  to  our  interests,  was  inclined  to  protest. 
She  replied,  "But  oh,  ma'am,  iggs  is  twenty  cints  a 
dozen,"  forgetting  that  when  we  did  have  them  in  the 
West  they  cost  us  seventy-five  cents  or  a  dollar.  She 
began  the  new  week  the  same  way  with  both  of  us, 
and  with  a  doleful  countenance  exclaimed,  after  receiv- 
ing her  orders,  "And  have  you  any  idee^  ma'am,  what 
your  mate  bill  will  be  this  month  ?" 

The  question  of  cake  and  pastry  was  a  momentous 
one.  Here  we  were  in  a  land  that  seemed  to  run  over 
with  milk  and  honey,  or  better  still  for  us,  where  but- 
ter, eggs,  and  cream  were  in  abundance  for  delicacies, 
and  yet  we  were  very  stupid  in  their  use.  Living  for 
years  without  these  luxuries  had  either  dulled  our 
memories  as  to  the  method  of  concocting  nice  dishes, 
or,  beginning  our  married  life  so  young  as  we  did  on 
the  plains,  we  had  never  known  how.  Armed  with  a 
cook-book,  we  tried  experiments,  and  the  men  courage- 
ously partook  of  the  results.  Being  in  perfect  health, 
they  survived  the  experiments,  and,  as  is  usual  with 
oflficers,  overrated  all  we  did.  At  the  time  of  the 
church  festivals  of  the  different  denominations  we 
fared  well,  and  our  table  was  supplied  with  delicious 
cake  made  by  zealous  churchwomen.  We  all  bought 
so  much  that  I  remember  one  occasion  when  the  wom- 
en who  were  getting  up  a  festival  postponed  it  until 
General  Custer  returned  from  duty  out  of  town. 


234  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

There  never  seemed  to  be  any  way  of  preparing  for 
unexpected  guests  on  the  frontier,  and  yet  it  was  a  land 
of  surprises.  If  we  were  near  the  raih'oad  we  could 
usually  count  on  six  trains  out  of  seven  bringing  us  com- 
pany, and  if  our  visitors  were  thoughtful  enough  to 
telegraph,  some  sort  of  preparation  could  be  made ;  but 
were  we  stationed  at  a  post  or  encamped  in  the  field 
where  the  only  access  to  us  was  by  overland  travel, 
there  could  be  no  warning  note.  People  rode  in  on 
horseback  or  drove  by  wagon  at  all  hours  of  the  day 
and  night.  Should  they  prove  to  be  officers  who  came 
on  duty,  or  en  route  to  some  other  station,  we  felt  little 
solicitude,  for  they  knew  the  usages  so  far  away  from 
a  base  of  supplies,  and  could  joke  about  a  meagre  lar- 
der with  us  as  merrily  as  if  they  were  not  hungry — 
could  even  quote  the  old  story  of  an  officer  who  was 
out  of  supplies  but  not  deficient  in  hospitality,  and 
who  invited  a  friend  to  a  dinner  of  two  dishes ;  when 
one,  the  rice,  was  declined,  he  was  asked  to  help  him- 
self to  the  mustard.       * 

The  commissary  was  nearly  always  accessible  when 
we  halted  at  night  on  the  march,  or  daily  in  camp ;  but 
there  was  but  one  issue  of  meat  for  the  day,  and  hav- 
ing eaten  the  steak  for  breakfast,  it  was  somewhat  em- 
barrassing to  have  guests  arrive,  perhaps  an  hour  after- 
wards, and  the  awful  fact  pressed  upon  us  that  if  we 
gave  them  meat  from  the  roast  there  would  be  nothing 
left  for  their  dinner.  Even  the  commanding  officer 
had  sometimes  to  be  called  into  the  kitchen  tent  for 
consultation  in  emergencies,  and  he  fortunately  never 


ARMY   HOUSE-KEEPING.  235 

felt  embarrassed  over  what  was  -a  serious  question  to 
both  Eliza  and  me.  He  offered  to  take  the  people  off  to 
see  the  horses,  the  camp,  the  stream  on  which  we  lived, 
the  bluff  beyond,  to  view  the  vastness  of  the  plains. 
Then,  left  to  ourselves,  we  sent  round  at  once  to  the 
other  messes  to  find  if  any  one  had  meat,  game,  eggs, 
or  anything  cookable.  If  they  failed  us,  as  they  gen- 
erally did,  for  no  one  had  any  better  facilities  for  keep- 
ing food  than  we  had,  then  the  commissary  ham  or 
bacon,  often  inexpressibly  salty  and  dry,  became  the 
piece  de  resistance  for  the  hurried  breakfast-table. 
But  the  undaunted  head  of  the  house  came  back  with 
his  people  in  fine  humor,  and  managed  to  whisper  to 
me,  in  a  roguish  manner, "  I've  got  them  good  and  hun- 
gry; they  won't  mind  what  they  eat  now." 

Occasionally,  when  we  were  alone,  all  the  breakfast 
was  not  eaten,  and  enough  meat  went  off  on  the  plat- 
ter for  croquettes  or  hash,  or  a  savory  stew,  but  it  was 
never  Eliza's  plan  to  attempt  to  save  anything  for  the 
unexpected  guest.  If  I  expostulated  with  her,  and 
said  I  wondered  if  everybody's  cupboard  was  always 
as  bare  as  ours,  she  protested  in  reply,  "  Miss  Libbie, 
you  don't  spect  to  keep  anything,  do  you,  without  no 
'frigerator,  no  cellah  ? — why,  things  would  Bpile."  If  I 
went  out  to  the  kitchen  tent  hungry,  between  meals, 
it  was  a  very  different  affair ;  she  instantly  said,  "  Miss 
Libbie,  there  ain't  no  bread,  but  it  won't  take  me  no 
time  at  all  to  beat  you  up  some  biscuit  or  poach  you 
an  eggr 

If  we  were  in  a  permanent  camp — that  is,  if  our  tents 


236  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

were  pitched  for  a  stay  of  some  weeks  or  months — we 
often  had  all  the  canvas  we  needed.  Sometimes  the 
kitchen  and  dining  tent  were  put  opposite  each  other, 
with  a  fly  covering  the  space  between.  If  we  had  the 
good-fortune  to  have  a  table  at  all,  it  was  usually  of 
rough  boards  spread  on  two  carpenter's  horses ;  those 
sitting  at  one  end  could  not  lean  on  the  table  or  em- 
phasize an  after-dinner  story  by  coming  down  with 
their  fists  on  the  boards.  If  they  did,  the  table  came 
too.  The  time  appointed  for  other  people's  "  walnuts 
and  wine  "  was  to  us  the  hour  for  the  officers'  pipe  and 
cup  of  coffee,  and  at  many  merrymakings  the  sudden 
coming  down  of  expressively  gesturing  hands  on  the 
unreliable  table  set  the  dishes  joining  in  the  concert. 
We  sometimes  had  stout  camp-stools  made  of  oak,  for 
which  we  seut  into  the  States,  and  the  soldier  who 
made  them  knew  all  that  would  be  expected  of  them ; 
but  even  oak,  leather,  or  the  strongest  canvas  used 
would  get  rickety  after  being  tumbled  round  in  the 
baggage-wagon  in  its  descents  into  a  canon,  or  in  its 
plunges  and  jerks  through  heavy  mud.  There  was  a 
degree  of  uncertainty  and  insecurity  about  the  legs  of 
tables,  stools,  and  camp-beds  in  those  days  that  made  us 
all  sit  down  at  first  very  gently. 

In  the  kitchen  tent  we  found  it  well  to  leave  the 
field  completely  to  Eliza  when  dinner  was  in  course 
of  preparation.  If  we  rejoiced  in  a  cook-stove,  it  was 
battered  and  broken  after  our  journeys ;  the  utensils 
were  pretty  well  wrecked  also,  while  often  a  vicious 
change  in  the  ever-varying  wind  drove  the  smoke  into 


ARMY   HOUSE-KEEPING.  237 

poor  Eliza's  ejes.  The  wood  was  frequently  damp, 
and  usually  soft  cotton-wood,  which  would  not  burn  at 
all  if  it  was  wet,  and  burned  out  quickly  if  it  was  dry. 
There  was  no  kitchen-table.  The  mess  chest  was  large, 
but  its  lid  could  not  be  utilized  with  safety.  Filled  as 
it  was  with  dozens  of  slides  for  plates,  saucers,  platters, 
vegetable  dishes,  with  holes  cut  for  bowls  and  cups, 
compartments  for  sugar,  flour,  tea,  coffee,  rice,  etc.,  it 
could  not  be  used  conveniently  for  a  table,  as,  once  its 
lid  was  down  and  in  use,  there  was  sure  to  be  a  little 
baking  powder  or  a  pinch  of  salt  needed,  and  they 
were  usually  in  the  very  depths  of  its  centre.  Eliza, 
knowing  this,  put  her  pans,  skillets,  and  kettles  on  the 
ground,  mixed  her  baking-powder  biscuit  on  a  board 
on  the  grass,  peeled  her  potatoes  kneeling,  and  ground 
her  coffee  sitting  a  la  Turqxie. 

If  the  wind  did  not  blow  her  tent  quite  down,  she 
had  to  fight  its  continual  bursts  through  the  insecure 
fastenings  at  the  front.  Mingled  with  everything  was 
the  fine  dust  which  the  gusts  of  wind  blew  in,  or 
which  the  continual  flapping  of  the  tent- wall  on  the 
ground  sifted  into  every  dish  or  cooking  utensil.  The 
tea  blew  away  while  being  put  into  the  teapot,  the 
flour  rose  in  little  puffs  while  being  moulded.  No  one 
ever  gets  quite  used  to  the  wind  of  the  plains.  We 
studied  in  vain  to  outwit  its  persistent  intermeddling. 
I  have  seen  poor  Eliza  ironing  on  the  ground,  the  gar- 
ment over  which  she  worked  held  down  by  stones  for 
weights,  while  she  swiftly  and  vigorously  plied  her 
iron,  holding  down  the  other  part  with  her  free  hand. 


238  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

Under  all  these  vexatious  circumstances  it  was  a  mar- 
vel how  she  kept  her  temper  at  all.  At  times  when  it 
was  raining,  the  wind  opening  the  entrance,  or  blow- 
ing up  from  underneath  the  tent- walls,  or  sending 
puffs  of  smoke  out  of  the  dampfer,  or  around  the  hole 
cut  in  the  canvas  for  the  pipe,  no  one  approached  the 
poor  woman.  If  we  heard  the  things  rattle  ominously, 
or  wood  being  pitched  about  recklessly  among  the  tins 
and  kettles,  or  sounds  of  a  voice  deep  and  emphatic,  or, 
more  significant  still,  if  the  soldier  who  was  our  striker, 
and  usually  waited  on  the  cook  assiduously,  slid  quiet- 
ly out  into  the  rain  and  wandered  about  aimlessly,  we 
knew  that  it  was  the  better  part  of  valor  to  let  Eliza 
work  out  her  own  salvation.  She  certainly  had  a  right 
to  be  in  a  fury,  and  why  she  did  not  set  the  tent  on 
fire,  or  take  a  skillet  and  brain  those  who  brought  her 
out  there,  was,  and  is,  an  unsolved  problem. 

I  have  quoted  one  of  her  sayings  before,  but  must 
beg  the  liberty  of  repeating  it  here.  When  the  day 
was  over,  and  twilight  came,  there  was  nothing  to  do. 
She  sometimes  grew  lonely,  and  if  I  went  to  sit  beside 
her,  seeing  that  she  had  gone  off  by  herself,  and  needed 
consoling,  there  was  no  answer  to  be  made  when  she 
said,  "  Miss  Libbie,  you's  always  got  the  ginnel,  but  I 
hain't  got  nobody,  and  there  ain't  no  picnics  nor  church 
sociables  nor  no  buryings  out  here."  Her  whole  heart 
was  wrapped  up  in  our  interests,  and  many  a  device 
she  resorted  to  in  concocting  some  new  dish  witii 
which  to  surprise  us.  I  remember,  when  we  were  very 
far  out  in  the  wilderness,  having  tomato  catsup  to  add 


AEMY   HOUSE-KEEPING.  239 

to  the  flavor  of  the  ever -recurring  beef,  Eliza's  face 
shone  with  pleasure  when  we  called  her  in  and  found 
that  she  had  used  canned  tomatoes,  which  the  commis- 
sary always  has,  to  get  up  this  treat  for  us. 

Once  I  had  what  seemed  to  me  old-fashioned  peach 
preserves,  carrying  me  back  in  memory  from  the  very 
heart  of  the  great  American  desert  to  my  mother's 
table  in  the  East  when  I  was  a  child.  Again  it  was 
one  of  Eliza's  surprises  with  canned  peaches — which, 
like  tomatoes,  are  always  good  at  the  commissary.  If 
our  butter  melted  on  the  march,  and  we  prepared  to 
eat  dry  bread  all  summer,  she  would  say,  "Don't  none 
of  you  fret,  it  ain't  spoiled,  it's  biled,  and  now  it  won't 
get  rancid  no  matter  what  comes." 

Sometimes  we  saw  no  eggs  all  summer  long,  after 
the  supply  that  we  had  brought  from  the  last  town 
we  had  passed  through  on  our  way  to  camp  was  ex- 
hausted. The  cook-books  were  maddening  to  us,  for 
a  casual  glance  at  any  of  them  proves  how  necessary 
eggs,  butter,  and  cream  are  to  every  recipe.  In  those 
days,  when  the  army  lived  beyond  the  railroad,  it  would 
have  been  a  boon  if  some  clever  army  woman  could 
have  prepared  a  little  manual  for  the  use  of  house-keep- 
ers stranded  on  the  frontier,  and  if  she  had  also  real- 
ized that  we  had  no  mothers  to  ask,  and  consequently 
had  omitted  the  tormenting  advice  to  '^  use  your  own 
judgment." 

Eliza  knew  that  her  master  was  extremely  fond  of 
apples,  and  when  the  supply  sent  out  began  to  decay, 
she  took  the  utmost  pains  to  put  them  up  in  glass  jars ; 


240  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

and  when  spring  came,  and  there  was  dearth  of  every- 
thing in  our  snow-bound  home,  and  we  were  aggra- 
vated by  reading  of  strawberries,  etc.,  in  the  States, 
Eliza  brought  the  jars  out  from  their  concealment, 
and  setting  the  apples  before  the  head  of  the  house, 
she  said,  "  Ginnel,  these  is  your  strawberries." 


•ffntantris  Dinner^caU. 

[Called  "Pease  upon  a  Trencher."] 
110=- J  Allegro. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


NECESSITY   THE   MOTHER   OF   INVENTION. 

Sometimes  I  have  been  asked,  when  speaking  of  the 
monotony  of  our  fare,  why  we  did  not  rely  on  game 
to  vary  the  inevitable  beef  that  Uncle  Sam  allowed 
us  to  buy.  The  Indians  were  about  us  a  great  deal 
of  the  time,  and  though  perhaps  unseen  —  for  they 
are  very  wary — we  had  proof  that  they  lurked  in  our 
vicinity.  In  Dakota  we  were  never  able  to  go  on 
hunting  parties  without  an  escort,  unless  in  the  depths 
of  winter.  The  danger  of  men  getting  so  excited  with 
the  pursuit  of  game  as  to  separate  themselves  from 
the  others  made  the  commanding  officer  dread  sending 
hunting  parties  out  to  any  distance.  In  the  dead  of 
winter,  when  the  Indian  was  buried  in  his  tepee,  our 
officers  and  soldiers  went  often,  and  were  able  to  bring 
back  enough  deer  for  many  tables. 

It  was  a  charming  sight,  the  return  of  the  hunters. 
16 


24:2  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

If  Eliza  ran  to  the  door,  her  frugal  eye  took  in  the 
game  before  anything  picturesque  made  an  impression ; 
and  she  used  to  say :  ''  Lord-a-massey's  sake,  Miss  Lib- 
bie,  ain't  I  glad  that  the  ginnel's  got  a  deer !  I've  eat 
so  much  beef  since  I  come  to  live  with  you  that  I 
spects  to  bellow  and  grow  horns  foh'  I  get  back  to 
God's  land." 

The  deer  was  taken  into  the  wood-house,  where  the 
liunters  cut  it  up,  and  sent,  with  their  compliments, 
portions  to  the  different  families.  If  any  one  had  been 
fortunate  enough  to  have  bull  or  buffalo  berries,  gath- 
ered in  the  autumn,  the  jar  of  jelly  added  the  tart 
flavor  that  game  needs.  These  berries  were  red,  and 
grew  along  the  stem  very  thickly,  so  that  gathering 
consisted  in  shaking  the  bush,  under  which  a  sol- 
dier's poncho  was  spread,  to  save  the  ripe  fruit  from 
being  lost  in  the  close  buffalo-grass.  Naturally  there 
were  not  so  many  berries  gathered  as  might  have  been, 
had  not  our  foe  been  watching  to  steal  stray  horses  in 
the  canons  or  bottom-land,  where  the  fruit  grew.  The 
commanding  officer  was  somewhat  embarrassed  one 
day  when  he  sat  visiting  in  the  quarters  of  our  neigh- 
bor, to  whom  he  had  sent  a  quarter  of  venison  a  few 
moments  before.  There  was  a  tremendous  scuffle  and 
growling  heard  in  the  half-story  (or  attic)  above,  where 
the  meat  had  been  hung;  and  the  host  going  up  to 
see  the  meaning  of  the  fracas,  found  nine  of  our  dogs, 
that  had  followed  their  master  in,  and  chased  up-stairs 
when  no  one  was  looking,  busy  eating  the  venison  as 
fast  as  their  powerful  jaws  could  te^r  it  apart.     Of 


NECESSITY  THE  MOTHEK  OF  INVENTION.  243 

course  the  hunters  could  do  nothing  else  than  go  out 
next  day  for  another  deer  to  replace  the  stolen  meat. 

In  Kansas  we  had  buffalo  most  of  the  time,  and  that 
was  a  great  change  for  us.  The  rump-steak  is  juicy, 
and  requires  little  basting,  while  buffalo  tongues,  which 
were  such  a  rare  treat  in  the  market  of  the  Eastern 
cities,  were  then  to  be  had  in  abundance  with  us.  It 
is  remarkable  how  luxuries  that  are  unheeded  in  the 
midst  of  plenty  will  impress  themselves  on  our  minds 
for  years  and  years  if  they  come  to  us  in  the  midst  of 
deprivations.  We  rarely  had  small  game,  except  the 
few  ducks  that  came  to  the  pools  formed  by  heavy 
rains  on  the  prairie  in  the  autumn ;  but  I  remem- 
ber those,  and  the  prairie-chickens  of  Kansas,  and  the 
plover  of  Dakota,  that  were  shot  on  the  march  up  the 
Missouri  Eiver,  as  if  I  had  never  tasted  birds  before 
or  since.  I  also  recollect  ^  little  butter  I  once  made, 
as  seemingly  the  first  and  last  occasion  of  my  ever  eat- 
ing any,  so  good  did  it  seem.  An  officer  made  me  a 
miniature  churn  with  a  bottle,  and  a  little  wooden 
dasher  put  through  a  cork.  We  were  at  the  time 
marching  each  day  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilder- 
ness, but  occasionally  came  to  a  ranch  where  some 
venturesome  frontiersman  had  established  himself,  and 
located  his  claim  to  Government  land.  Of  course  our 
people  galloped  on  in  advance,  and  soon  bought  out 
the  madam.  There  was  a  little  cream  among  other 
things,  and  as  I  sat  under  the  tent-fly  after  we  made 
camp,  it  was  soon  transformed  into  butter  in  the  toy 
churn. 


244  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

In  garrison  the  liead  of  our  liouseliold  was  almost 
inconsolable  without  soup.  On  the  march  he  could 
do  without  almost  everything;  but  once  in  a  house, 
there  were  certain  articles  on  the  bill  of  fare  he  made 
every  effort  to  obtain.  Ox-tail  soup  was,  of  course, 
easy  to  have  when  the  beef  was  killed  daily  at  a  post ; 
but  if  it  failed,  the  following  dialogue  between  the 
master  and  cook  took  place :  "  Where's  my  soup  ?"  like 
some  small  boy  demanding  his  supper.  Eliza,  with 
maternal  look,  and  protesting:  "Ginnel,  what  you 
s'pose  I'se  gwine  to  make  soup  of?  I  ain't  got  noth- 
ing." He :  "  Go  out  and  get  some  stones,  and  boil 
them  up  with  something ;  only  I  want  soup."  Exit 
Eliza,  perplexed,  but  set  to  thinking  how  to  concoct 
something  out  of  nothing. 

Eliza  really  needed  few  suggestions,  for  her  mind 
was  intent  on  inventions,  and  ready  to  improve  every 
opportunity  that  presented  itself.  While  we  were  en- 
camped near  Fort  Hays,  General  Miles  offered  us  many 
civilities,  and  among  other  kindnesses  we  received 
ice  occasionally  from  the  post  ice-house.  Eliza,  in  or- 
der to  celebrate  the  arrival  of  some  Eastern  guest 
whom  she  wished  to  impress  with  our  resources,  served 
as  a  surprise  one  day  peach  ice-cream.  Investigation 
revealed  that  it  was  made  of  condensed  milk,  with 
canned  peaches,  and  frozen  in  a  bucket  which  her  will- 
ing "Man  Friday  "  manipulated,  no  one  knows  for  how 
long  a  time,  during  the  freezing  process. 

One  day  the  cook  of  one  of  my  friends  offered  to 
make  her  some  vinegar-pies,  and  declared,  in  appetiz- 


NECESSITY   THE  MOTHER   OF   INVENTION.  245 

ing  description,  that "  lemon-pies  was  nothing  to  them." 
So,  carefully  following  the  direction  of  her  soldier- 
lover,  she  made  the  pastry,  and  for  the  pie  part  pre- 
pared a  paste  more  like  that  used  by  the  paper-hang- 
er than  anything  else,  and  flavored  this  with  vinegar. 
The  poor  mistress,  divided  between  the  desire  to  thank 
the  cook  for  trying  to  do  something  for  her,  and  her 
repugnance  to  the  odious  pie,  was  in  a  state  of  extreme 
perplexity,  but  was  able  to  decline  with  thanks  when 
soldier  pies  were  suggested  again. 

One  officer,  coming  from  Bismarck  one  day,  brought 
butter,  and  as  the  commissary  had  been  out  of  that 
article  for  some  time,  all  the  messes  sent  over  to  the 
town  to  get  some.  Shortly  after  we  learned  that  the 
commissary  butter,  at  seventy -five  cents,  which  had 
been  condemned  and  sold  to  the  grocer  in  town,  had 
been  put  by  him  through  some  process  that  tempo- 
rarily helped  it,  placed  in  jars,  and  resold  to  us  for  one 
dollar  a  pound. 

Sometimes  the  tiresome  bill  of  fare  to  which  we  had 
to  submit  when  far  from  the  railroad,  or  in  a  country 
where  it  was  dangerous  to  hunt,  was  a  sore  trial  if  a 
woman  chanced  to  be  ailing  and  craved  dainty  food. 
Nearly  every  one  was  well,  and  our  plain  dishes  were 
flavored  by  that  inexhaustible  "  sauce,"  good  appetite ; 
but  when  any  one  was  ill,  and  the  appetite  had  to 
be  tempted,  it  was  hard.  One  of  my  friends  had  lis- 
tened with  eager  pleasure  to  the  bill  of  fare  that  an- 
other friend  had  described  as  having  been  served  at  a 
luncheon  she  had  attended  in  the  States ;  and  if  the 


246  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

less  fortunate  woman,  who  had  not  been  on  leave  of 
absence,  and  who  could  not  eat  the  food  healthful  peo- 
ple enjoyed,  became  desperate,  she  used  to  say,  "  Come, 

M ,  let  us  go  to  Mrs.  So-and-So's  to  luncheon;" 

and  her  eyes  brightened  at  the  recapitulation  of  every 
dainty,  as  she  let  her  powerful  imagination  deceive  her 
into  thinking  she  was  actually  a  participant. 

It  was  constantly  a  wonder  to  me  that  officers  who 
were  leading  a  rough  existence  on  the  campaigns  so 
much  of  the  year,  could  take  up  all  the  amenities  of 
life  so  readily  when  living  in  garrison  again.  We 
could  rarely  find  any  subject  for  criticism  in  their  con- 
duct. Once  General  Custer  forgot  himself  when  he 
came  home  to  his  mother,  after  a  long  summer  in  the 
field.  He  took  up  his  plate  as  he  talked,  and  brushed 
it  off  with  his  napkin,  as  on  the  march  it  was  almost 
a  necessity  to  do,  on  account  of  the  wind  blowing  the 
dust  over  everything.  His  sensitive  old  mother,  always 
hovering  around  him,  slipped  to  his  place  and  critically 
examined  the  plate,  saying,  "My  son,  is  there  any- 
thing wrong  with  it  ?"  He  blushed  furiously,  as  blond 
people  are  apt  to  do  if  they  redden  at  all,  tossed  back 
his  hair,  as  he  was  wont  to  do  in  embarrassment,  apol- 
ogized, and  at  once  turned  to  tell  me  that  I  must  break 

him  of  that  habit,  or  he  would  do  so  at  Judge  S 's, 

or  the  Honorable  Mr.  M 's,  where  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  dine  sumptuously  while  on  leave  in  New 
York. 

Every  one  in  camp  or  garrison  pounced  upon  the 
slightest  chance  for  a  joke,  and  a  certain  officer  would 


NECESSITY   THE   MOTHER   OF   INVENTION.  247 

blush  now  if  reminded  of  the  time  we  all  let  him,  in 
an  absent-minded  way,  sit  down  to  our  table  in  garri- 
son, on  the  day  he  returned  from  a  march,  with  his  hat 
on,  just  on  purpose  to  laugh  at  him  afterwards.  Of 
course,  with  the  persistent  fatality  of  things,  he  was  the 
most  punctilious  of  us  all,  which  made  his  slip  all  the 
funnier.  Our  officers  ate  out-of-doors  six  and  eight 
months  of  the  year,  and  necessarily  dined  with  their 
heads  covered ;  consequently,  it  was  little  wonder  that 
it  took  a  day  or  two  to  get  accustomed  to  in-door  life. 
On  a  similar  occasion,  after  months  in  the  field,  General 
Custer  found  Eliza  transfixed  with  surprise,  her  face 
full  of  reproof,  saying,  as  if  he  had  been  a  spoiled  boy, 
while  she  pointed  to  the  floor,  "  What  you  s'pose  your 
mother  goin'  to  think  of  you  if  you  do  them  careless 
tricks  when  you  get  home  ?"  Accustomed  in  camp  to 
toss  the  remnant  of  water  in  his  tumbler  on  the  grass 
before  having  it  refilled,  he  had  forgotten  that  he  was 
not  on  a  campaign  until  the  splash  on  the  bare  floor  of 
our  dining-room  was  pointed  out  to  him.  Two  or  three 
trifles  like  these,  occurring  directly  after  their  return 
from  an  expedition,  were  all  that  I  ever  saw  of  the 
gaucheries  that  many  expected  from  men  who  lived 
almost  constantly  in  the  open  air. 

If  company  came,  there  was  recourse  to  borrowing. 
Our  friends  deprived  themselves  of  everything,  except, 
perhaps,  a  spoon  or  knife  and  fork  and  plate  apiece,  to 
supply  our  table.  We  had  only  six  of  everything  in 
the  mess  chest,  and  it  was  no  unusual  thing  to  have 
a  dozen  people  come  unexpectedly;  then  there  was 


24:8  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

scurrying  about  to  the  different  messes  to  borrow 
everything  that  could  be  spared.  The  term  mess  is 
applied  either  to  a  family  or  a  number  of  officers  who 
for  convenience  live  together,  engaging  one  cook,  and 
each  of  the  mess  taking  his  turn  in  the  domestic  details 
and  providing  the  supplies.  At  the  end  of  the  month 
the  expenses  are  equally  divided.  I  find  that  it  is  the 
impression  among  civilians  tliat  officers  have  their  food 
provided  as  the  soldiers  do  their  rations.  Officers  buy 
everything  for  themselves,  but  Government  makes  no 
extra  charge  for  the  transportation.  The  commissary 
sells  in  Arizona,  or  any  equally  remote  place,  at  the 
same  rate  at  which  the  articles  were  bought  in  the  East. 
There  are  commissioners  who  examine  everything  sub- 
mitted to  the  Commissary  Department,  so  that  what 
we  bought  was,  as  a  rule,  of  the  best  quality.  There 
was  always  this  drawback,  however,  that  the  supplies 
might  have  been  on  hand  so  long  as  to  have  lost  fresh- 
ness, and  sometimes  the  Government  warehouses  were 
far  from  suitable  for  the  storing  of  groceries  and  pro- 
visions. 

We  thought  no  more  of  borrowing  for  any  company 
or  unusual  festivity  that  we  had,  than  if  all  had  been 
making  these  demands  on  our  mothers  or  sisters  living 
near.  We  lent  our  houses  and  everything  in  them  for 
months  at  a  time.  It  was  surprising  how  little  was 
lost  living  in  that  careless  way.  We  had  no  locks  on 
our  doors,  nor  was  ever  a  key  turned  in  a  trunk  or  on  a 
closet,  if  we  happened  ever  to  have  the  latter  luxury.  I 
never  remember  losing  anything  except  some  valuable 


NECESSmr   THE   MOTHER   OF   INVENTION.  249 

lace,  and  that  was  taken  by  a  woman  to  whom  we 
gave  a  home  while  she  was  trying  to  get  a  place  as 
cook.  We  slept  always  with  unlocked  doors.  The 
sentinel  was  at  some  distance  from  us,  but  we  did  not 
look  to  him  for  the  protection  of  our  property.  It  was 
to  the  honor  and  kindly  feeling  towards  us  that  we 
trusted.  As  I  have  said,  our  soldiers  sometimes  took 
things  to  replace  our  worn-out  outfit,  but  made  what 
they  thought  very  trifling  exchanges,  and  they  were  in 
turn  so  zealous  in  guarding  our  effects  that  we  never 
lost  anything.  "We  were  careless  enough — so  much  so 
that  if  any  trifling  addition  was  made  to  our  equip- 
ments we  did  not  know  enough  about  our  belongings 
to  notice  it.  Once  I  remember  seeing  a  chest  of  car- 
penter's tools  in  the  stable.  That  did  surprise  me,  but 
the  story  told  was  plausible,  and  it  was  impossible  to 
get  at  the  exact  truth.  Soon  afterwards  we  suddenly 
moved,  on  imperative  orders,  and  the  chest  could  not 
be  transported,  so  I  always  hoped  that  it  finally  reached 
its  rightful  owner.  The  servants  knew  that  every  one 
was  welcome  to  our  things,  so  they  did  not  even  ask 
us ;  and  if  I  recognized  anything  at  a  friend's  house 
when  the  refreshments  were  sci'ved  in  the  evening, 
there  was  a  significant  smile  from  the  hostess  as  I  ate 
with  my  own  spoon  and  used  a  napkin  with  a  big  C  in 
the  corner. 

There  was  in  the  family  a  mania  for  auctions.  A  red 
flag  out  of  a  house  in  a  city  through  which  we  were 
rushing  to  catch  a  train  set  us  in  a  perfect  flutter,  and 
was  a  sad  disquieter  of  the  domestic  peace,  so  hard  did 


250  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

it  seem  to  pass  it  by.  While  stationed  at  Leavenworth 
there  was  wide  scope  for  the  exercise  of  this  family 
predilection.  Sometimes  the  queerest  imaginable  arti- 
cles came  home,  and  if  one  of  the  family  of  two  had 
not  had  a  hand  in  the  excitement  of  bidding  and  pur- 
chasing, there  was  very  apt  to  follow  an  inquiry  com- 
mon in  domestic  circles — "What  on  earth  do  you 
suppose  one  can  ever  do  with  thatf^ — some  scorn 
underlying  the  emphasized  "  that "  Once  a  huge  bowl 
— too  big  for  any  ordinary  occasion — made  its  entree 
with  just  such  a  welcome.  But  a  great  "find"  it 
proved  eventually ;  there  came  to  be  no  festive  occa- 
sion complete  without  it.  My  dish  was  a  belle ;  it  was 
invited  to  more  dinners  than  any  one  in  garrison,  and 
it  was  too  hard  that  it  could  not  have  caught  and  re- 
tained in  its  deep  bowl  some  of  the  wit  and  lonho- 
mie  that  surrounded  it,  for  officers  are  the  best  of 
diners.  In  the  short  half-hour  allowed  for  dressing,  a 
business  man  must  shake  off  the  cares  and  perplexities 
that  have  consumed  him  all  day,  and  put  himself  into 
visiting  trim.  Our  officers  have  not  that  to  do.  They 
have  hard  duty  in  the  day,  but  much  of  it  is  routine 
work,  and  is  not  accompanied  with  carking  care,  conse- 
quently it  can  be  thrown  off  the  moment  it  no  longer 
requires  attention.  But  then  it  is  their  nature,  and 
the  life  encourages  them  to  work  very  hard  when  work 
is  before  them  to  do,  but  to  set  aside  the  burdens 
quickly.  Indeed,  take  out  of  every  man's  life  the  ne- 
cessity for  anxiety  about  food  and  clothes,  give  him  a 
house  to  live  in  and  for  those  he  loves,  secure  these 


NECESSITY   THE  MOTHER  OF   INVENTION.  251 

permanently,  and  the  wrinkles  would  be  smoothed  out 
of  many  a  fast-furrowing  face.  The  Government  gives 
one  a  house  free  of  rent — ofttimes  not  much  more  than 
a  barrack,  but  still  a  shelter — wood  to  warm  you,  forage 
for  two  horses ;  and  the  pay,  small  as  it  is,  enables  at 
least  two  people  to  have  what  they  need  to  eat  and  to 
wear.  There  was  very  little  competition  in  the  way  of 
living  out  on  our  border.  Take  that  out  of  life  and 
see  what  a  difference  it  makes.  It  was  no  wonder, 
then,  that  men  came  to  dinner  full  to  the  brim  of 
capacity  for  enjoyment. 

When  there  is  an  invalid  wife  to  send  into  the 
States  for  treatment,  or  there  are  children  to  educate, 
the  perplexities  begin,  for  the  pay  account  soon  evapo- 
rates ;  but  there  is  no  life  from  which  care  can  be  en- 
tirely excluded,  and  even  under  these  circumstances  I 
have  rarely  known  men  and  women  inflict  their  anxi- 
eties upon  others  on  any  social  occasion.  I  knew  a 
major-general  whom  New  York's  choicest  people  often 
dined.  He  was  something  superb  to  look  at  physical- 
ly, and,  besides  his  wide  experience  in  life  and  his 
splendid  military  record,  he  was  full  of  the  delicate 
niceties  of  a  courteous  gentleman,  apparently  free  from 
anxieties,  in  perfect  health,  faultlessly  dressed,  and  his 
smooth  and  handsome  face  bore  no  trace  of  care ;  still 
his  pockets  were  often  nearly  empty  if  it  happened  to 
be  the  latter  part  of  the  month,  and  once,  I  know, 
when  he  was  visiting  some  of  our  friends,  he  had  but 
forty-five  cents  and  no  bank  account.  His  pay  was 
not  small,  but  he  was  generous  and  hospitable,  and  if  a 


252  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

major-general  is  expected  to  live  as  he  ought  to  live, 
the  pay  is  hardly  adequate. 

If  in  the  autumn  we  left  camp  and  came  into  garri- 
son for  a  few  winter  months,  "we  seemed  to  have  noth- 
ing. The  rooms  of  our  quarters,  only  of  ordinary  size, 
made  the  few  pieces  of  furniture  look  isolated,  with 
such  awful  distances  between  them.  A  woman's  in- 
genuity came  then  into  play.  The  companies  had  all 
sorts  of  artisans  as  enlisted  men,  and  we  first  borrowed 
a  carpenter.  With  rough  boards  he  made  us  inexpen- 
sive lounge-frames  that  we  felt  no  hesitancy  in  throw- 
ing away  when  we  left  again  in  the  spring.  For  these 
we  bought  single  mattresses,  and  then  made  covers  of 
cretonne  or  common  calico.  As  the  covers  were  boxed, 
the  frill  fully  pleated  on,  and  the  pillows  also  boxed,  it 
looked  like  a  lounge,  and  did  not  have  a  "  beddy  "  look, 
as  we  used  to  say.  The  pillows  were  stuffed  with  hay, 
perhaps,  for  it  was  a  long  time  before  we  attained  to  all 
the  feather-pillows  we  needed.  We  could  have  several 
of  these  lounges,  and  after  we  had  learned  to  accumu- 
late bright  Mexican  or  gay  striped  blankets,  and  things 
that  fold  up,  we  could  soon  make  ourselves  comfortable. 

A  roll  of  anything  can  almost  always  be  stuffed  in  a 
closely  packed  wagon,  while  actual  furniture  is  a  prob- 
lem. So  we  became  very  expert  in  choosing  stuffs  that 
would  cover  furniture  and  curtain  windows.  Some  of 
the  old  curtain-covers  of  those  far-away  days  are  still 
in  use.  With  a  lounge  in  every  room  and  curtains 
at  the  windows,  there  was  a  great  step  made  towards 
furnishing.    We  had  low  boxes  with  lids  to  fit  in  the 


NECESSITY   THE  MOTHER  OF   ESTVENTION.  253 

windows,  and  these  we  covered  and  stuffed  for  seats. 
Sometimes  two  of  our  packing-chests  were  made  just 
the  right  height  and  size,  so  that  when  put  side  by 
side  they  would  make  a  good  foundation  for  a  lounge. 
Our  camp-chairs  were  freshly  covered,  and  stools  made 
of  boxes  again  covered.  The  few  books  we  were  able 
to  take  with  us  the  carpenter  arranged  alielves  for,  or 
by  good-fortune  the  little  parlor  had  a  wide  cupboard 
beside  the  fireplace,  with  shelves  above. 

We  tried  to  keep  one  carpet  intact ;  but  in  our  own 
chamber  four  gray  Government  blankets,  bought  at  a 
sale  of  condemned  goods,  were  darned,  sewed  together, 
and  spread  in  the  centre  of  the  room.  Our  bureaus 
were  always  called  bureaus ;  but  they  were  in  part 
packing  boxes,  shelved  inside,  and  covered  with  the 
calico  which  did  much  to  hide  angularities  and  ugliness. 
The  wash-stands  were  similarly  constructed.  How 
often  we  Bedouins,  who  came  in  so  late  in  the  autumn 
and  left  so  early  in  the  spring,  wished  that  Uncle  Sam 
would  put  in  the  quarters  the  roughest  sort  of  furniture 
as  a  permanency  !  These  makeshifts  were  resorted  to 
only  when  we  were  to  stay  a  short  time.  If  we  were 
able  to  remain  long  enough  in  one  place  to  call  a  post 
our  regimental  headquarters,  we  could  accumulate  a 
few  really  good  articles,  and  leave  them  stored  in  gar- 
rison in  our  absence  in  the  field. 

There  are  not  many  quarters  that  do  not  have  a  few 
pictures.  Even  in  those  days  if  we  had  chromes  we 
were  glad,  for  the  walls  of  army  quarters  were  not  pa- 
pered and  a  poor  picture  even  took  away  a  little  of 


254:  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

the  bare  look.  Occasionally  some  one  wlio  painted  in 
oils  or  water  colors  would  triumph  over  the  obstacles 
of  our  life,  and  their  walls  were  our  envy.  The  sol- 
dier carpenter  made  clumsy  frames,  which  were  painted 
or  ebonized  at  home,  and  such  a  relief  to  the  eye  were 
these  pictures  that  the  artist  bade  fair  to  have  his  or 
her  head  so  effectually  turned  that  he  would  consider 
further  artistic  effort  unnecessary. 

We  rarely  had  flowers  to  brighten  our  houses.  Some- 
times in  the  underbrush,  where  the  sole  trees  we  had — 
the  cotton-woods — grew,  we  found  clematis,  and  the  joy 
of  draping  our  pictures  or  mantles  with  this  graceful 
vine,  covered  with  its  soft  tufts  of  fluffy  gray,  was  some- 
thing to  be  remembered.  For  a  brief  time  in  the  early 
summer  the  plains  were  aflame  with  wild  flowers  of 
the  most  brilliant  dyes ;  but  the  hot  summer  scorched 
them,  as  well  as  the  grass,  out  of  existence.  As  ferns 
only  grew  in  rather  damp  and  shady  places,  it  can  be 
imagined  that  we  never  saw  them.  I  had  given  me 
some  pressed  ferns  in  the  States  once,  and  pasted  them 
on  one  of  our  windows  when  we  reached  the  arid  sun- 
baked plains.  They  seemed  like  a  bit  of  fairy-land, 
and  looking  at  them  while  they  lasted  transported  us 
to  cool  nooks  on  a  pretty  brook  overhung  with  thick 
foliage.  Flowers  are  in  such  common  use  nowadays 
that  few  tables  are  without  them.  Perhaps  only  a 
cheap  little  basket  of  ferns  and  foliage  plants,  or  a 
bowl  of  wild  daisies,  but  that  flowerless  land  seems 
like  the  desert  of  Sahara  as  I  look  back  at  it  as  it  was 
after  early  summer  was  past. 


NECESSITY  THE  MOTHER  OF   INVENTION.  255 

During  our  stay  at  a  post  when  the  hot  sun  had 
dried  all  vegetation,  and  we  were  surrounded  with  prai- 
ries burned  with  the  heat,  one  of  our  number  planted 
some  Madeira  bulbs  in  boxes  on  each  side  of  the  man- 
tle, and  we  laughed  at  her  credulity  when  she  looked 
for  results.  But  one  day  she  was  able  to  laugh  back, 
as  tiny  shoots  appeared.  When  her  soldier  husband 
came  home  from  the  campaign,  the  vines  had  stretched 
on  up  to  the  chimney,  and  were  following  a  lattice  of 
scarlet  strings  that  were  stretched  across  above  the 
mantel,  making  a  verdant  side  to  the  bare  room.  This 
same  friend  left  us  to  go  with  her  husband  on  detached 
duty,  and  they  found  tliat  they  must  spend  the  winter 
in  huts  in  an  isolated  part  of  unsettled  Kansas.  To 
keep  the  cold  from  coming  through  the  nn plastered 
walls,  she  papered  them  with  Army  and  Navy  Jour- 
nals, and  ornamented  them  with  illustrations  from  Har- 
jper''s  WeeJdy,  finishing  with  a  few  poems  as  a  dado. 
The  soldiers  sometimes  gave  us  "  pointere  "  as  we  rode 
by  their  quarters.  One  had  a  box  for  a  dressing-table, 
and  covering  it  a  gunny  sack,  such  as  the  grain  came 
in,  fringed  all  around  as  a  cover.  For  his  wash-stand 
he  had  driven  a  pole  into  the  ground  of  the  proper 
height,  and  nailed  to  this  a  board  to  hold  his  tin  basin. 
Sometimes  the  soldiers  made  mats  similar  to  those  the 
sailors  fashion,  and  it  is  difficult  to  realize  how  effective 
rags,  hooked  through  burlaps  can  be  made  when  so 
few  colors  are  available.  Old  blue  army  cloth,  both 
light  and  dark,  bits  of  white  muslin  and  red  flannel, 
were  everything  the  men  had,  and  their  home-made 


256  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

hooks,  made  of  a  bit  of  wire,  seemed  to  do  just  as 
good  work  as  the  loom.  People  are  mistaken  if  thej 
imagine  for  a  moment  that  happiness  arises  from  their 
accessaries  or  surroundings.  These  certainly  add,  but 
the  most  contented  people  I  ever  knew  lived  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  great  American  desert. 

Tliose  women  who  cared  for  fancy-work  would  beau- 
tify their  quarters,  and  there  was  much  leisure  for  nee- 
dle-work. Military  people  are  very  social.  They  sat 
on  the  gallery  a  great  deal,  and  officers  going  about  the 
garrison  on  duty  stopped  for  a  chat  coming  from  the 
stables,  or  spent  an  hour  waiting  for  drill  call,  or  in 
helmet  and  spurs  smoked  a  cigarette  while  the  orderly 
brought  their  horses  for  parade.  Each  woman  coming 
from  leave  of  absence  was  prepared  to  teach  a  new 
stitch,  lend  her  fresh  designs,  or  send  back  to  have  those 
she  had  brought  reproduced. 

During  the  long  summers,  when  we  women  were 
left  alone,  and  had  nothing  to  fill  up  our  time  except 
work  that  we  purposely  made  to  occupy  the  lonely 
hours,  there  came  to  be  great  improvement  in  our 
stitchery.  We  sat  on  the  galleries  at  work  while  one 
read,  and  the  delicate  fingers  of  some  fashioned  the 
bullion  shoulder-straps,  or  ripped  a  military  cap  to 
copy  it,  or  even  had  the  courage  to  attempt  shirt-mak- 
ing. Others  painted,  or  drew,  or  learned  new  guitar 
accompaniments.  One  of  our  number  was  so  indus- 
trious that  she  could  not  sit  with  idle  hands  in  camp, 
but  resorted  to  knitting,  and  was  soon  dubbed  "  the 
little  grandmother." 


NECESSITY    THE   MOTHER    OF    INVENTION.  257 

Ha/pper^s  Bazar  was  as  thoroughly  read  out  there 
as  at  any  point  in  its  wide  wanderings.  The  question 
of  clothes  was  not  a  serious  one,  for  we  dared,  when  so 
far  beyond  the  railroad,  to  wear  things  out  of  date.  It 
was  rather  difficult  to  teach  ourselves  to  be  dress-makers, 
and  things  looked  pretty  botchy  and  home-made  for  a 
long  time  after  we  had  begun  to  do  such  work ;  but 
there  was  much  goodness  in  helping  and  teaching,  and 
sometimes,  if  one  of  us  was  plunged  into  difficulties — 
for  instance,  coming  from  a  long  march  literally  in  tat- 
ters— the  rest  came  in  for  a  "  bee,"  and  made  light  work 
about  the  sewing-machine.  We  could  get  cotton  gowns 
at  the  sutler's  (the  one  store  allowed  in  a  garrison)  or 
in  the  little  town  that  is  often  located  on  the  edge  of  a 
reservation.  We  sent  into  the  States  by  every  avail- 
able opportunity  for  anything  so  serious  as  a  stuff 
gown  or  outer  garment.  We  all  carried  lists  into  the 
States  to  fill  for  others.  It  was  amusing  to  see  a  bach- 
elor officer  go  into  a  shop  in  the  East  with  his  lists, 
where  the  superciliousness  of  the  smart  young  woman 
who  waited  on  him  almost  made  him  beat  a  hasty  re- 
treat. The  shop-girl  is  often  a  superior  order  of  being 
even  with  experienced  shoppers,  and  sometimes  loftily 
undertakes  to  prove  that  she  knows  what  you  want 
much  better  than  you  do  yourself ;  but  take  a  blushing 
youth,  with  all  sorts  of  articles  that  he  has  talked  calm- 
ly over  with  the  women  in  garrison,  where  all  are  like 
one  family,  these  very  articles  seem  very  formidable 
when  he  attempts  to  utter  them  in  the  presence  of  a 
city  saleswoman.  The  girl  does  not  help  him  in  his 
17 


258  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

embarrassment,  you  may  be  sure,  and  a  red  and  uncom- 
fortable time  is  perhaps  his  while  selecting  even  stock- 
ings. The  officers'  devotion  to  women  was  so  great 
that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  make  exhibitions  of  them- 
selves in  front  of  many  a  counter.  I  remember  a  bride- 
groom sent  out  on  his  wedding  journey  to  buy  a  neck 
ruche.  Before  starting  he  was  well  drilled,  and  said 
his  lesson  quite  fluently ;  but  he  was  no  sooner  on  the 
crowded  street  than  the  "  ruche  of  illusion  footing " 
became  so  jumbled  in  his  mind  that  he  could  not 
straighten  out  the  words  in  the  order  in  which  they 
should  go.  He  described  himself  on  his  return  as  pass- 
ing shop  after  shop  in  trying  to  get  courage  to  enter 
and  utter  the  strange  jumble  of  sounds  into  wliich 
the  commission  had  got  itself  tangled.  It  was  war- 
time, and  officers  wore  their  uniforms  in  the  cities,  so 
that  a  very  youthful  and  violently  red  brigadier-general 
presented  himself  before  the  surprised  shop-girl,  and 
excitedly  blurted  out  his  request  for  a  "  foot  of  Russian 
illusion."  The  smile  of  the  shop-girl  seemed  sardonic 
to  him ;  but  he  bravely  stood  his  ground,  and  after  many 
labored  explanations  he  succeeded  in  returning  to  the 
hotel,  triumphantly  carrying  a  brown-paper  parcel. 

Sometimes  boots  or  shoes  were  ordered  by  mail  and 
sent  separately,  on  account  of  bulk  or  postage.  Any 
one  anxiously  looking  for  his  second  shoe  in  two  or 
three  successive  mails  was  told,  in  a  teasing  and  fore- 
boding way,  that  the  other  shoe  would  never  come,  and 
that  there  was  nothing  left  for  him  but  to  "  put  his 
Uest  foot  forward  "  from  that  time  on. 


NECESSITY   THE   MOTHER   OF   INVENTION.  259 

If  we  went  on  leave  of  absence  we  borrowed  each 
other's  clothes — or,  ratlier,  they  were  offered  before  we 
could  ask.  Our  neighbors  stepped  in  with  a  mysteri- 
ous bundle,  which  meant  the  one  choice  article  in  their 
wardrobe.  It  used  to  seem  to  me  that  if  I  was  once 
complete,  it  would  be  a  gala-day.  If  I  had  a  gown, 
there  was  no  appropriate  outer  garment ;  if  I  possessed 
a  charming  bonnet,  it  made  my  gown  look  as  if  it  had 
belonged  to  a  Mayflower  ancestor.  This  was  all  be- 
cause we  stayed  so  short  a  time  in  the  States  that  we 
considered  it  foolish  to  make  any  permanent  prepara- 
tions ;  besides,  there  were  so  many  useful  things  for 
our  quarters  on  which  we  wished  to  expend  our  money. 
I  recall  our  once  starting  suddenly  for  a  large  city  for 
a  few  days'  pleasure.  I  had  a  lovely  gown  that  was  a 
surprise  to  me,  having  been  sent  for  by  Genei*al  Custer 
perhaps  fifteen  hundred  miles.  My  bonnet  was  admis- 
sible, but  I  had  no  wrap  of  any  sort  except  a  winter 
cloak.  I  had  no  idea  of  having  my  pleasure  destroy- 
ed by  such  a  need,  so  I  inwardly  prayed  that  no  early 
autumn  cold  snap  would  visit  us  and  necessitate  a  warm 
outer  garment.  As  I  left  the  house,  a  generous  friend 
ran  up  the  "steps  with  an  heirloom — a  camel's -hair 
shawl.  I  protested,  the  carriage  was  waiting,  impatient 
feet  beat  a  tattoo;  I  laid  the  beautiful  shawl  back  on  my 
friend's  arm  reluctantly,  I  confess,  but  as  we  rushed 
down  the  steps  she  flung  it  on  my  shoulder.  I  wonder 
if  a  borrowed  baby  makes  any  more  anxiety  than  an 
heirloom  loaned?  In  the  many  mirrors  of  a  hotel  I 
surveyed  myself  with  serenity ;  but  oh,  what  inward 


S60  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

consciousness  of  responsibility !  If  I  took  the  shawl 
with  me  when  driving,  I  feared  that  it  would  be  lost, 
if  I  left  it  at  the  hotel,  I  was  wild  about  thieves.  To 
crown  all  this  I  met  a  friend  from  my  girlhood's  home 
whose  eyes  fastened  on  this  bit  of  elegance  I  was  wear- 
ing, and  who,  I  knew,  would  report  me  as  parading  in 
purple  and  fine  linen,  whereupon  our  towns -people, 
knowing  that  we  were  too  poor  to  buy  India  shawls, 
would  extract  a  confession  that  my  "  fine  feathers  "  be- 
longed to  another  bird.  This  little  tale  I  leave  with- 
out a  moral ;  I  have  only  told  it  to  prove  that  people 
in  that  life  had  nothing  so  choice  that  it  could  not  be 
shared  with  others. 

I  rather  think  our  "  get  up  "  for  a  garrison  hop  was 
our  greatest  failure  in  the  way  of  dress,  for  we  tried  to 
do  something  then,  and  it  sometimes  ended  in  a  lam- 
entable failure.  "We  fished  out  from  the  little  finery 
in  the  bottom  of  our  trunks  some  frivolities  in  the 
way  of  ribbons  or  flowers  or  trimmings  that  had  served 
their  time,  and  were  ready  for  retirement  even  be- 
fore coming  West.  But  in  our  efforts  to  emphasize 
the  occasion,  a  white  or  a  black  gown  was  decorated 
with  trimmings,  perhaps  crushed,  wrinkle,  or  out  of 
date.  Fortunately  we  had  no  city  toilets  to  compete 
with,  and  it  took  a  good  deal  to  disfigure  fresh,  health- 
ful, happy  women  in  the  eyes  of  men  who  alwaj^s  gave 
them  their  meed  of  praise.  I  tremble  to  make  the 
statement,  but  there  is  a  familiar  look  in  the  windows 
of  second-hand  establishments  in  the  cities  as  I  pass 
them,  and  the  flounces  and  plaits  out  of  date,  the  rib- 


NECESSITY   THE   MOTHER   OF   INVENTION.  261 

Lons  and  trimmings  quite  passe,  do  remind  me  a  little 
of  evenings  when  we  all  tried  to  look  smart  out  there 
beyond  the  pale  of  civilization.  1  do  remember  a 
French  gown,  the  box  containing  which  we  saw  on  its 
way  to  a  post  hundreds  of  miles  beyond  us.  The  officer 
dared  not  crush  it  into  his  small  trunk,  so  he  had  car- 
ried it  in  the  cars  on  his  lap,  in  a  stage,  in  an  ambulance, 
and  still  had  another  stage  ride  before  him  when  we 
entertained  him ;  but  our  men  were  not  often  put  to 
such  a  test  of  good-nature,  for  there  were  few  women 
who  did  not  try  to  make  the  wardrobe  they  brought 
out  last  two  or  three  years  with  simple  additions,  easily 
obtained. 

At  one  time  we  all  came  in  from  the  plains  when 
our  regiment  was  ordered  South  on  duty.  The  wom- 
en hurriedly  retreated  to  their  rooms  at  the  hotel  to 
escape  curious  eyes,  for  it  was  written  all  over  us  that 
we  were,  in  Western  terms,  "  waybacks  from  way  back." 
The  retreat  was  not  so  quickly  made  that  one  pair  of 
observing  eyes  did  not  take  in  a  few  women  on  the 
way,  and  discover  that  basques  were  worn  instead  of 
round  waists.  The  scissors  were  soon  snipping,  the 
needle  flying,  and  the  result  was  a  basque  ready  for 
dinner.  Meanwhile  a  charge  of  our  brave  men  was 
made  through  the  town  hunting  for  back  hair  to  re- 
model the  antique  coiffures  of  their  better  halves.  It 
was  no  easy  task,  for  the  sun  fades  and  streaks  the 
glossiest  locks  out  there,  and  the  wind  breaks  and  dries 
the  silkiest  mane.  Fashion  had  dictated  a  chignon 
of  heavy  braids  and  curls  during  our  long  absence  on 


262  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

the  plains,  and  the  poor  martyred  men  made  many  a 
sally  before  a  perfect  match  could  be  obtained.  At 
last  we  made  our  appearance,  revelling  in  all  the  glory 
of  a  protuberance  of  regulation  size,  and  the  little  com- 
pany of  blue-coats  marshalled  their  forces  and  advanced 
on  the  dinner-table,  and  then  had  the  heartlessness  to 
laugh  at  the  unusual  dignity  with  which  the  overbur- 
dened heads  were  carried. 


2)rc00  paraDe, 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


General  Custer  was  delighted  to  hear  at  last  that 
his  friend,  the  Hon.  K.  C.  Barker,  was  about  to  accept 
one  of  the  many  invitations  we  had  sent  him,  and  come 
to  our  camp  for  a  hunt.  Several  other  Detroiters,  ea- 
ger sportsmen,  also,  were  to  accompany  him.  They 
had  hardly  been  our  guests  in  camp  long  enough  to 
dispose  of  luncheon  before  all  were  asked  to  don  the 
hunting-garb  and  prepare  for  the  setting  out ;  as  the 
good  buffalo  ground  was  twelve  miles  distant,  it  was 
necessary  to  reach  it  before  dark.  Already  had  the 
troopers  who  were  to  go  as  escort  received  their  or- 
ders, and  saddles,  girths,  bridles,  and  lariats  were  put  in 
order,  carbines  and  pistols  cleaned  and  loaded,  horses 
fed  and  groomed  to  the  last  degree  of  shine.  The  band 
also  put  their  instruments  into  u  brighter  condition,  to 
add  to  the  general  glitter  of  the  column. 

Nearly  all  of  the  oflBcers  of  the  regiment  engaged  in 
the  hunt  were  mounted  on  their  second-best  horses, 
having  their  trusty  chargers  led,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  fresh  next  day  for  the  run.  There  were  all 
the  wagons  necessary  for  supplies,  and  mess  chests  for 
the  various  groups  of  officers  who  lived  together ;  tents 


264  FOLLOWING    THE    GUIDON. 

were  carried,  and  there  was  also  a  certain  amount  of 
forage,  for  it  was  necessary  to  prepare  for  several  days' 
absence  of  the  cavalcade  of  seventy.  A  brave  sight  it 
was  as  they  started  out,  a  column  half  a  mile  long,  and 
the  eyes  of  our  delighted  guests  shone  with  excitement 
as  they  noted  the  dashing  cavalry  officers  sitting  their 
mettlesome  steeds  with  such  ease,  the  troopers  riding 
equally  well  and  brilliant  in  touches,  as  the  sun  caught 
the  polished  steel  of  their  fire-arms  or  sent  radiating 
lines  of  light  from  the  shining  bit  or  burnished  spur — 
the  band  playing  the  regimental  tune  "  Garryowen,"  as 
their  wise  and  steady  gray  horses  paced  their  way  with- 
out guiding.  The  stag-hounds  bounded  along  on  their 
cushioned  feet,  spurning  the  soft  turf  in  their  active 
leaps.  One  of  the  guests,  enthusiastically  happy,  and 
fearless  In  expression  of  his  joy,  kept  turning  to  take 
in  the  rare  sight,  declaring  that  nothing  in  our  prosaic 
nineteenth  century  was  so  like  the  days  of  chivalry, 
when  some  feudal  lord  went  out  to  war  or  to  the  chase, 
followed  by  his  retainers. 

There  were  two  heavy  weights  in  the  party,  and  they 
had  taken  the  precaution  to  start  in  the  ambulances, 
knowing  that  the  saddle  would  exact  some  terrible  pen- 
ance from  them  next  day,  when,  unaccustomed  to  rid- 
ing, they  pounded  up  and  down  over  the  rough  country. 
The  gay  scene  was  too  much  for  them,  however ;  the 
merry  voices  of  the  officers,  story  telling,  singing,  laugh- 
ing, the  more  subdued  but  none  the  less  jubilant  tones 
of  the  troopers  who  rejoiced  at  this  unusual  holiday, 
the  quick  happy  bark  of  the  dogs,  the  neigh  of  the 


LEADS   THE    HUNT.  265 

horses,  delighting  in  the  fresh,  exhilarating  air  of  the 
plains,  made  them  feel  themselves  prisoners  inside  a 
vehicle,  so  a  halt  was  made,  and  the  men  of  solid  flesh 
began  at  once  to  play  cavalrymen.  At  the  end  of  the 
twelve  miles,  im  varied  except  by  some  jack -rabbit 
chases,  when  by  their  speed  the  dogs  enchanted  Mr.  Bar- 
ker, who  had  given  them  to  us,  a  camping-ground  was 
selected  and  the  fire  for  supper  soon  sent  its  cheerful 
gleam  into  the  twilight  shadows.  The  soldiers,  with 
the  ease  of  practice,  had  put  up  two  rows  of  wall-tents 
facing  each  other,  and  near  them  another  line  of  their 
own  A  tents.  The  wagons  and  ambulances  were  so 
placed  at  the  rear  of  each  line  of  tents  that  they  formed 
a  temporary  barricade,  for,  even  on  such  a  pleasuring 
as  that  was,  none  of  the  usual  precautions  for  safety 
were  neglected. 

The  camp  named  for  Mr.  Barker  was  a  noisy  one 
for  a  time.  The  twelve-mile  march  had  not  tired  the 
guests  sufficiently  to  produce  quiet,  while  to  the  offi- 
cers and  troopers  it  was  a  mere  bagatelle.  They  smoked 
and  told  frontier  tales,  while  the  guests  brought  out 
their  choicest  collection  of  after-dinner  stories  from 
the  States;  it  was  only  the  consideration  of  the  early 
reveille  that  induced  them  to  turn  in  on  their  blankets 
and  buffalo-robes  for  sleep.  Reveille  at  dawn  brought 
the  party  out  again,  fresh  and  enthusiastic  for  the  day's 
sport. 

After  breakfast  the  distribution  of  horses  began.  By 
that  time  all  the  best  buffalo-horses  in  the  regiment 
were  well  known,  and  as  this  was  an  occasion  when  it 


266  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

was  the  desire  of  all  of  us  to  make  the  hunt  a  success, 
the  trustworthy,  experienced  animals  had  been  brought 
along.  The  only  problem  was  the  mounting  of  Mr. 
Barker  and  Judge  Beckwith,  weighing,  as  they  did, 
nearly  two  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  each.  It  was 
always  difficult  for  the  heavier  men  of  our  regiment  to 
get  good  mounts,  and  even  if  they  found  horses  strong 
enough  to  carry  them  on  the  march,  on  drill,  or  ordi- 
nary garrison  duty,  it  always  remained  a  query  whether 
these  powerful  animals  had  enough  speed  to  join  in  the 
chase.  This  question  was  studied  pretty  thoroughly, 
and  the  strongest  horse  in  the  regiment  with  any  speed 
had  been  selected  for  Mr.  Barker,  but  by  one  of  those 
unfortunate  accidents  that  thwart  the  best  laid  plans, 
the  scout  sent  out  at  daybreak  to  look  up  a  buffalo 
herd  had  taken  the  strong  horse  held  in  reserve,*  and 
blown  him  so  that  there  was  no  good  work  to  be  ex- 
pected of  him  for  the  next  twenty-four  hours. 

Fifty  horsemen  were  soon  in  line  of  march,  followed 
by  wagons  to  bring  back  the  meat ;  and,  much  to  the 
guests'  distress,  two  ambulances  brought  up  the  rear  to 
carry  the  wounded  should  any  one  be  hurt.  These  ve- 
hicles seemed  like  birds  of  evil  omen  following  slow- 
ly along  after  a  thoughtless,  jubilant  company,  and  no 
one  wanted  to  look  backward  if  he  hoped  to  keep  the 
gloomy  side  of  life  out  of  his  mind.  When  the  gay 
cavalcade  had  gone  a  few  miles  the  scouts  sent  out  re- 
turned, to  report  the  direction  of  the  buffalo  they  had 
found.  When  the  black  specks  appeared  against  the 
horizon  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Eastern  men  knew  no 


267 

bounds ;  each  burned  with  a  desire  to  take  back  a 
record  to  those  unfortunate  Detroiters  who  had  not 
had  the  good-luck  to  come.  The  officers  experienced 
in  the  chase  made  each  guest  their  special  care,  so  that 
there  was  no  lack  of  hints  regarding  the  preparations 
for  the  charge.  The  usual  halt  took  place  to  dismount, 
examine  bits,  surcingles,  spurs  and  fire-arms,  and  to 
discard  coats,  and  secure  hats  with  handkerchiefs  or 
strings ;  for  the  thought  was  not  of  appearances  at  such 
a  moment. 

Finally,  at  the  signal  the  fifty  horsemen  vaulted  into 
saddles  and  were  off.  To  the  tourists  the  buffalo  seemed 
huge.  One  of  the  party,  describing  them,  after  their 
return,  said  they  had  the  grace  of  an  elephant  and 
the  beauty  of  a  hippopotamus.  The  monsters  were 
not  long  in  discovering  the  enemy  coming  towards 
them ;  they  promptly  started  their  cumbrous  bodies  into 
a  lumbering  run,  and,  as  usual,  got  over  the  country  at 
such  a  surprising  rate  that  it  took  all  the  best  riding  of 
the  old  hunters,  and  the  very  best  skill  of  the  "  tender- 
feet  "  to  keep  their  poise  in  the  saddle,  and  let  the  expe- 
rienced horse  take  them  down  divides,  up  the  constant- 
ly recurring  slopes,  through  the  softened  soil  where  the 
gopher  and  prairie-dog  had  undermined  the  earth. 

The  buffalo  pitches  down  any  descent  in  a  headlong, 
reckless  manner.  He  never  spares  himself.  The  Ind- 
ians often  drove  them  to  a  bluff,  knowing  that  if  stam- 
peded they  would  leap  down  the  steepest  declivity, 
and  plunging  below  on  their  huge  heads,  it  became  an 
easy  affair  to  finish  them  with  the  knife  if  they  were 


268  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

not  killed  outright.  This  inhumanity  was  not  a  prac- 
tice with  the  white  man.  In  any  descent,  therefore, 
the  buffalo  gained  on  his  pursuer,  but  in  the  ascent 
of  the  divide  the  horse  was  superior,  and  often  caught 
up  with  the  groaning,  puffing,  laboring  buffalo. 

The  herd  of  thirty  first  seen  that  day  was  soon  scat- 
tered, the  hunters  starting  out  in  all  directions  in  pur- 
suit of  the  isolated  animals.  After  a  sharp  run  of  a 
few  miles  the  riders  began  to  return,  dusty,  heated,  all 
talking  at  once — gesticulating,  explaining  why  such- 
and-such  a  shot  was  missed,  narrating  narrow  escapes, 
chronicling  successes.  The  count  was  good,  for  twenty- 
four  buffaloes  lay  scattered  on  all  sides  within  a  radius 
of  three  miles.  The  accidents  were  told  over  next. 
One  of  the  guests  had  had  his  horse  pushed  into  a 
creek  by  a  buffalo,  but  being  an  old  soldier,  he  knew 
how  to  extricate  himself.  The  horse  of  a  soldier  had 
been  gored,  another  trooper's  horse  showed  the  long 
trail  of  a  buffalo-horn  where  the  hair  had  been  scraped 
off  on  the  side.  A  hole  in  the  sleeve  of  one  of  the 
novices  in  buffalo-hunting  revealed  the  fact  that  the 
aim  of  his  pistol  had  not  been  quite  what  he  intended 
it  to  be ;  another  had  evidently  been  equally  unfortu- 
nate in  his  aim,  for  the  palm  of  his  hand  was  black,  and 
smarting  with  powder,  and  he  could  not  explain  where 
the  ball  went.  The  party,  satisfied  with  their  success, 
turned  back  to  camp,  but  with  much  anxiety  regarding 
the  missing  ones.  Before  they  reached  there  the  lost 
came  up,  and  General  Custer's  description  gives  some 
idea  of  what  a  dangerous  pastime  buffalo-hunting  was : 


LEADS   THE   HUNT.  269 

Mr.  Barker,  mounted  upon  an  animal  that  had  justly  ex- 
cited his  suspicions  from  the  first  (for  he  had  discovered 
an  ugly  cut  on  the  knee,  and  a  tendency  to  stumble),  singled 
out  his  buffalo  on  the  first  charge,  and  after  separating  him 
from  the  main  herd,  began  emptying  his  revolver  into  the 
sides  of  the  buffalo — horse,  rider,  and  buffalo  going  at  break- 
neck pace.  He  must  be  a  bold  rider  who,  mounted  upon  a 
strange  horse,  is  willing  to  strike  out  at  full  speed  over  a 
country  known  to  be  infested  with  prairie-dog  holes,  wolf 
dens,  and  quicksands.  The  risk  of  a  fall  is  always  great, 
but  to  a  man  of  K.  C.  B.'s  weight  it  is  fearful.  The  horse 
proved  unsteady  under  fire.  Barker  concluded  to  go  from 
the  right  to  the  left  side  of  the  buffalo ;  in  doing  so  he  pass- 
ed close  to  the  haunches  of  the  latter.  The  buffalo  at  this 
moment  concluded  to  give  battle,  and  turned  to  intercept 
the  horse.  "Look  out  for  him,  Barker!"  was  the  warning  cry 
of  a  friend;  but  Barker's  eyes  were  directed  to  the  front. 
Again  is  the  warning  repeated.  This  time  it  is  heard,  and 
Barker  glances  towards  the  buffalo,  but  too  late.  Already 
the  horns  are  partly  concealed  by  the  long  flowing  tail  of 
the  horse,  while  the  latter,  feeling  the  points  of  the  enraged 
animal's  horns  pressing  his  flanks,  leaps  with  affrighted  vig- 
or to  elude  the  coming  blow,  but  in  doing  so  unsettles  the 
rider's  seat.  For  a  moment  Barker  is  seen  attempting  to 
recover  himself ;  but  the  horse,  now  unmanageable  from  fear, 
plunges  madly  forward,  the  rider  loses  his  balance,  and  the 
next  instant  goes  headlong  to  the  ground.  What  1  did,  or 
what  any  of  the  half-dozen  friends  following  closely  did  at 
the  time,  cannot  be  clearly  stated.  That  we  all  realized  the 
full  extent  of  the  danger  that  surrounded  our  comrade  was 
certain,  but  how  to  relieve  him  ? 

As  if  by  intuition,  and  without  uttering  a  word,  all  head- 
ed their  horses  towards  the  buffalo,  who,  finding  himself  the 
object  of  so  much  undivided  attention,  allowed  himself  to 
be  diverted  from  continuing  his  attack  on  Barker,  now  lying 


270  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

perfectly  helpless  and  insensible  within  three  bounds  of  the 
buffalo.  The  latter  again  chose  to  confide  in  the  swiftness 
of  his  legs  rather  than  in  the  strength  of  his  horns — a  de- 
cision which  spared  to  Detroit  one  of  its  most  estimable  cit- 
izens, and  to  the  sporting  world  one  of  its  brightest  orna- 
ments. 

Seeing  the  buffalo  well  under  way,  our  attention  was  next 
directed  to  ascertaining  the  extent  of  the  injuries  received 
by  our  friend.  He  was  still  lying  insensible,  breathing  as 
if  partly  suffocated.  By  means  of  restoratives  and  fresh 
air — of  the  latter  there  being  an  abundance — we  soon  had 
him  on  his  feet ;  and  upon  "  time  being  called,"  in  the  course 
of  a  quarter  of  an  hour  he  announced  himself  ready  to  mount 
his  horse.  This  time  a  change  was  effected  by  which,  al- 
though placed  astride  a  lighter  animal,  it  was  with  the 
assurance  that  he  was  "  sure-footed,  and  not  afraid  of  buffa- 
loes." If  timidity  had  been  one  of  Mr.  Barker's  character- 
istics, he  would  have  been  content  to  call  it  "  quits "  with 
the  buffalo;  but  no,  his  "dander"  was  up,  and  he  sur- 
prised his  hearers  by  announcing  that  his  late  narrow  escape 
from  a  possible  death  was  "  just  the  thing."  To  use  his  own 
expressions :  "  I  know  now  just  how  to  take  them  and  how 
to  ride ;"  and  as  for  the  blackened  eye  and  bruised  cheek, 
he  declared  that  "  no  money  could  buy  them." 

It  would  not  do  to  leave  a  renowned  hunter  thus 
worsted  on  the  field,  so  I  omit  portions  of  the  letter 
and  continue  General  Custer's  account  of  his  final  suc- 
cess : 

Turning  our  faces  towards  camp,  we  had  not  proceeded 
far  before  we  discovered  a  fine  herd  off  to  our  right.  Ap- 
proaching as  near  as  possible  without  giving  the  alarm,  a 
very  good  start  was  effected.  K.  C.  B.  singled  out  his  buffa- 
lo, wluch  proved  to  be  a  fine  bull  about  five  years  old,  and 


I 


271 

very  fleet.  It  required  a  good  run  to  bring  pursuer  and  pur- 
sued witliin  pistol  range  of  each  other ;  but  once  accomplish- 
ed, Mr.  B.  began  to  make  his  presence  known  by  deliberately 
emptying  his  large  Colt's  revolver,  directing  his  shots  im- 
mediately in  rear  of  the  fore-shoulder  and  below  the  middle 
of  the  body.  Barrel  after  barrel  was  discharged  until  the 
revolver  was  empty,  and  still  the  speed  seemed  unslackened. 
Replacing  this  revolver  in  its  holster  and  drawing  another, 
the  firing  was  continued.  The  last  shot  of  the  second  re- 
volver had  been  fired,  making  twelve  in  all,  and  stDl  the 
race  went  on  without  signs  of  distress.  An  attendant  handed 
Barker  a  third  revolver.  This  in  turn  was  emptied  into  the 
buffalo,  and  all,  apparently,  to  no  purpose.  A  fourth  revolv- 
er is  supplied,  from  which  four  shots  are  fired,  when  the 
buffalo's  never-failmg  signal  of  defeat,  bleeding  at  the  nose, 
is  perceptible.  Slowly  decreasing  his  speed  the  buffalo  soon 
comes  to  a  halt,  the  next  instant  he  is  down  on  his  side,  and 
before  his  heart  ceases  to  beat,  or  he  to  struggle.  Barker  is 
out  of  the  saddle,  and  with  hat  in  hand  leaps  upon  the  buf- 
falo and  gives  three  hearty  cheers,  in  which  he  is  joined  by 
all  of  the  party  who  are  within  hearing.  The  head  of  the 
animal  is  soon  removed  from  the  carcass,  and  conveyed  with 
the  party  to  camp,  from  which  point  it  was  expressed  the 
same  day  to  Detroit,  there  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
taxidermist  for  preservation. 

After  all  had  gathered  about  the  camp-lire  at  night 
there  was  the  usual  vehement  exchange  of  experiences, 
and  the  customaiy  recounting  of  ludicrous  situations, 
or  occasions  when  danger  was  looked  in  the  face.  Of 
course  the  tourists  were  much  spent  and  very  hungry, 
and  the  camp  supper,  with  their  own  game  for  the 
principal  dish,  was  "  food  fit  for  the  gods,"  they  said. 
The  story-telling  and  merriment  ^as  somewhat  sub- 


272  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

dued  on  account  of  fatigue,  and  our  guests  were  not 
aware,  in  a  few  moments  after  touching  the  blankets, 
that  thej  were  not  sleeping  on  the  soft  beds  of  civili- 
zation. 

General  Custer  continues : 

The  following  day  was  the  Sabbath,  and  although  hun- 
dreds of  miles  from  church  or  chapel,  it  was  nevertheless 
determined  to  "  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy," 
a  resolution  which  gave  no  little  pleasure.  At  sunset  the 
band  played  "  Old  Hundred,"  the  effect  of  which  on  our  lit- 
tle party  was  more  powerful  than  if  sung  by  a  well-organized 
choir  with  all  the  accompaniments  of  church  and  congrega- 
tion. 

The  merriest  man  of  all  these  guests  was  a  rollick- 
ing Irishman,  who,  though  living  quietly  in  Canada  at 
that  time,  had  been  an  extensive  traveller,  and  in  many 
adventures  by  sea  and  by  land.  His  stories,  his  songs, 
his  repartee  were  some  things  not  to  be  forgotten. 
Without  pretension  or  the  least  self -consciousness  he 
took  the  lead  in  everything,  and  the  moment  he  open- 
ed his  mouth  the  others  became  silent,  knowing  that  it 
was  "not  best  to  miss  anything  that  Morgan  said,  if 
a  fellow  cared  a  rap  for  fun."  As  I  remember  him 
and  his  bright  comrade  of  a  wife,  a  vivacious  French- 
woman, my  lips  involuntarily  form  themselves  into  a 
smile,  and  a  dozen  instances  of  their  clever  wit  come 
trooping  back  to  amuse  me.  The  one  picture  I  best 
recall  is  of  an  occasion  when  Mr.  Morgan  was  nearly 
drowned  in  the  Detroit  E-iver.  I  was  visiting  at  the 
Barkers'  on  Grosse  Isle,  and  at  evening  we  rowed  over 


273 

to  the  Morgans',  where  we  first  heard  of  the  narrow 
escape.  With  the  merriest  twinkle  in  his  eye  he  gave 
us  so  amusing  an  account  of  himself  while  he  clung  to 
the  boat,  in  peril  of  drowning,  that  we  shouted  over  it 
exactly  as  if  it  had  been  the  best  joke  in  the  world,  in- 
stead of  the  story  of  a  hair-breadth  escape  from  a  wa- 
tery grave.  His  cries  for  help  were  heard  first  by  his 
wife,  who  ran  for  the  boatman,  and  while  he  was  get- 
ting his  oars  Mrs.  Morgan  tore  up  to  the  house,  bring- 
ing back  with  her  a  brandy-flask  and  waved  it  to  the 
struggling  man,  who  clung  rather  feebly  to  the  upturned 
boat,  for  Mr.  Morgan  was  not  strong.  Even  weak  and 
chilled  as  he  was,  the  pluck  of  his  wife,  when  she  was 
so  frightened,  and  the  fun  of  the  whole  affair,  took  pos- 
session of  him,  and  he  shouted,  "  Thank  you,  Tillie,  I'll 
be  there,  directly !" 

The  brogue  added  to  every  story  he  told,  and  we  all, 
long  after  he  had  left  us,  repeated  and  laughed  over  his 
quick  sallies  and  his  fresh,  unhackneyed  dinner  and 
camp-fire  tales.  Out  of  the  fifty-three  buffaloes  killed 
on  the  two  days'  hunt,  Mr.  Morgan  had  the  best  score,  for, 
unaided,  he  had  despatched  seven.  He  allows  me  to  use 
an  extract  or  so  from  letters  to  his  wife  at  that  time : 

The  fatigue  of  yesterday's  hunt  was  too  much  for  most 
of  the  visitors,  many  of  whom  were  unfamiliar  with  eques- 
trianism, and  they  were  slow  to  respond  to  the  reveille ; 
when  they  did  come  forth  from  their  tents  it  was  with  that 
peculiar  gait  which  a  pair  of  compasses  must  adopt  if  com- 
pelled to  walk  across  a  table.  We  were  all  willing  to  rest 
our  laurels  of  yesterday's  running  for  one  day,  and  the  morn- 
18 


274  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

ing  was  devoted  to  recounting  our  deeds  of  valor  and  hair- 
breadth escapes.     I  had  a  bullet-hole  though  the  sleeve  of 

my  coat.     Mr.  L 's  horse  shied  at  a  polecat,  his  plug  hat 

fell  of,  and  came  in  for  the  full  phials  of  the  beast's  wrath ; 
the  tile  was  subsequently  recovered  and  made  a  target  of. 

After  one  of  the  hunts  we  satisfied  our  appetites  with  a 
glorious  dinner,  thanks  to  General  Custer's  bountiful  larder 
and  our  own  hunting  successes,  not  to  forget  a  good-sized 
locker  which  we  brought  from  the  East,  and  which  was 
known  as  the  "medicine- chest."  One  of  the  general's 
guests,  who  seemed  to  enjoy  the  good  things  with  a  gusto 
that  only  a  hunter  can  feel,  after  getting  up  from  dinner 
hastened  to  take  possession  of  a  large  crate  which  was  about 
half  full  of  straw,  and  which  was  used  for  packing  our  earth- 
en and  glass  ware.  Here  he  stretched  his  aching  limbs,  and 
was  soon  in  a  deep  sleep,  notwithstanding  that  the  band  was 
playing  but  a  short  distance  from  him.  I  and  one  or  two 
others  asked  the  general  to  aid  us  in  getting  up  a  funeral,  as 
evidently  our  friend  had  gone  (in  dreams)  to  the  happy  hunt- 
ing-ground, or  the  land  of  Nod.  The  general,  with  rollick- 
ing glee  worthy  of  a  school-boy,  entered  into  our  plans,  a  pro- 
cession was  formed,  six  stalwart  troopers  carried  the  bier,  the 
guests  acted  as  chief  mourners,  the  band  played  the  "  Dead 
March  in  Saul,"  and  the  cortege  advanced  across  the  prairie. 
The  motion,  the  music,  and  the  ringing  laughter,  that  might 
almost  be  taken  for  wailing,  seemed  to  cause  our  sleeping 
friend  to  dream  ;  he  then  awakened,  and  stared  around  in 
bewilderment ;  it  would  seem  that  he  failed  to  immediately 
take  in  the  situation,  for  he  asked,  in  the  most  serious  tone  : 
"  What  is  the  matter  ?  What  has  happened  ?"  The  general 
and  his  friends  congratulated  him  on  his  marvellous  recovery 
and  his. escape  from  a  lonely  grave. 

This  same  crockery-crate  was  still  to  be  the  central 
object  in  a  joke,  after  the  return  of  the  party  to  the 


"GAERYOWEn"  LEADS  THE  HUNT.       275 

main  camp.  Our  guests  had  found  out  by  some  shrewd 
questioning  that  our  mess  chest  held  only  six  of  a  kind 
for  setting  our  camp  table,  so  they  had  decided  to  bring 
with  them  a  supply  of  dishes.  The  crate  had  served 
as  their  packing-case.  One  day  I  remember  seeing  the 
empty  crate  the  centre  of  a  group  of  softly  moving 
figures,  stealthily  lifting  and  carefully  carrying  it  a  lit- 
tle distance  nearer  the  tents.  Soon  it  was  revealed 
that  our  guests  had  enlisted  General  Custer  in  another 
practical  joke.  One  of  the  citizens  having  dined  and 
wined  well,  had  thrown  himself  down  on  the  ground  to 
take  a  nap.  His  sleep  was  either  that  of  one  who  has 
a  light  conscience,  or  whose  senses  were  steeped  in  that 
oblivious  dream  that  comes  from  too  frequent  tips  of 
the  flowing  bowl.  I  haven't  the  faintest  remembrance 
who  it  was,  so  that  if  I  account  for  his  lethargy  in  this 
way  I  hope  that  I  may  be  forgiven.  A  number  of 
picket-pins  were  sharpened,  and  while  the  good  diner 
slumbered  the  crockery-crate  was  carefully  placed  over 
him  and  tacked  down  to  the  baked  earth.  Then  the 
perpetrators  of  this  joke  came  under  our  fly  to  watch 
for  the  awakening.  It  was  very  funny,  and  quite  worth 
the  long  vigil  kept  up  while  waiting  the  end  of  his 
sleep.  The  manner  in  which  the  imprisoned  man  par- 
tially arose  and  gazed  at  the  twisted  and  knotted  roof 
above  him  w^as  simply  convulsing  to  us.  Then  he 
kicked  wildly  in  impatience,  and  endeavored  to  throw 
the  light  crate  off  him ;  still  it  resisted.  Finally,  the 
figure  of  this  reputable  and  highly  respected  citizen 
,on  his  knees,  scrambling  and  pushing  and  struggling 


276  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

to  lift  the  crate  by  his  bowed  back,  like  a  bucking 
horse,  sent  us  into  screams  of  laughter,  and  it  was  no 
longer  possible  to  refuse  to  go  to  his  assistance. 

When  an  expedition  reaches  the  bed  of  a  stream 
which  has  no  water,  the  place  is  marked  on  the  map  as 
a  dry  camp.  There  is  still  another  application  of  the 
term,  and  our  guests  in  anticipation  of  this  had  brought 
good  cheer  in  the  locker  which  they  called  the  "  medi- 
cine-chest," but  after  that  day  there  was  pretty  good 
care  taken  not  to  visit  it  any  oftener  than  would  leave 
a  man  in  condition  to  leap  from  sound  sleep  into  vigi- 
lant wakefulness.  This  caution  was  necessary  by  way 
of  avoiding  the  too  marked  attention  of  those  who 
pined  ever  for  a  practical  joke. 

With  all  this  merrymaking  there  was  mingled  in 
General  Custer's  heart  a  pang  of  sorrow  for  almost  an 
irreparable  loss ;  but  his  own  words  will  better  convey 
his  feelings : 

To  give  our  visitors  an  opportunity  to  witness  the  great 
speed  of  the  antelope  and  American  hare,  or  as  it  is  best 
known  on  the  plains,  the  jack-rabbit,  I  took  with  me  from 
camp  about  half  a  dozen  fine  stag-hounds.  Foremost  among 
all  these  was  Maida,  my  favorite  dog,  the  companion  of  all 
my  long  and  terrible  marches  of  last  winter;  she  who  by 
day  trotted  by  my  side,  and  at  night  shared  my  camp-couch. 
In  the  first  run  after  buffaloes  the  dogs,  contrary  to  their 
usual  custom,  became  separated  from  me  and  accompanied 
others  of  the  party.  They  soon  singled  out  a  buffalo,  and 
readily  brought  it  to  bay.  With  little  forethought  or  pru- 
dence, several  of  the  hunters  opened  fire  upon  the  buffalo 
while  the  latter  was  contending  with  the  dogs.     Maida  had 


LEADS   THE    HUNT.  277 

seized  hold  of  the  buffalo,  and  while  clinging  to  its  throat 
was  instantly  killed  by  a  carbine-ball  fired  by  some  one  of 
the  awkward  soldiers  who  accompanied  the  party.  Words 
fail  to  express  the  grief  occasioned  by  the  untimely  death 
of  so  faithful  a  companion. 

"Poor  Maida,  in  life  the  firmest  friend; 
The  first  to  welcome,  foremost  to  defend ; 
Whose  honest  heart  is  still  your  master's  own. 
Who  labors,  fights,  lives,  breathes  for  him  alone. 
But  who  with  me  shall  hold  thy  former  place, 
Thy  image  what  new  friendship  can  efface? 
Best  of  they  kind,  adieu ! 
The  frantic  deed  which  laid  thee  low 
This  heart  shall  ever  rue." 


•ffntantrg  Call  **  Co  tbe  Color/* 


Fife. 


^^t=feJ— ?^=^=:^=t-iH 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


ARMY   PKOMOTIONS. 

One  of  the  pleasurable  excitements  of  garrison  or 
camp  life  was  promotion.  The  lucky  man  who  had 
long  lingered  and  anxiously  balanced  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  list,  when  he  at  last  made  the  final  file  was 
instantly  surrounded  by  his  comrades,  who,  after  con- 
gratulating him,  immediately  proceeded  to  besiege  him 
for  a  "  spread !"  They  daringly  suggested  how  he 
should  celebrate,  and  news  went  flying  about  as  if  they 
were  a  parcel  of  school -boys,  one  calling  to  another, 

"  Come  on  up ;  is  going  to  have  a  '  lay  out,'  his 

promotion's  come." 

At  these  celebrations  we  all  made  merry  till  the  host 
despaired  of  getting  rid  of  us.  A  messenger  returned 
from  the  sutler  wagons  loaded  with  a  heterogeneous 


ARMY   PROMOTIONS.  279 

display,  and  tliongh  there  was  so  little  in  that  meagre 
life  to  celebrate  with,  that  made  little  difference ;  it 
was  only  one  more  occasion  of  the  many  we  rejoiced 
in  for  all  to  come  together ;  and  if  by  chance  no  one 
had  a  pair  of  shoulder-straps  to  emphasize  the  accession 
to  greatness,  it  was  a  chance  if  the  host  was  not  deco- 
rated with  the  insignia  of  rank  cut  out  of  white  cotton 
and  sewed  on  his  fatigue  jacket. 

In  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  soldiers  on  pa- 
per, and  a  much  smaller  number  in  reality,  it  was  not 
strange  tliat  the  wail  that  was  loudest  was  the  conspic- 
uous line  in  the  old  West  Point  song : 

"Promotion's  very  slow." 

The  lieutenants  referred  almost  everything,  includ- 
ing the  millennium,  to  the  time  "  when  I'm  a  captain." 
General  Custer  thought  that  the  position  of  a  captain 
was  the  most  enjoyable  and  independent  of  all.  The 
daily  association  with  the  company  brings  an  officer 
into  cordial  communication  with  liis  men,  and  a  per- 
sonal attachment  is  the  result  if  the  officer  be  just,  and 
his  men  tlie  better  sort  of  soldiers.  By  constant  ex- 
changing, or  by  court  -  martial,  the  company  can  be 
weeded  of  the  absolutely  worthless  men,  and  by  watch- 
fulness there  can  be  all  sorts  of  craftsmen  brought  into 
the  troop,  so  that  the  company  barracks,  and  the  cap- 
tain's and  subalterns'  quarters,  can  be  made  habitable, 
no  matter  how  dilapidated  they  may  be,  by  the  car- 
penter, blacksmith,  painter,  saddler,  etc.  After  a  high-* 
er  grade  is  reached  there  is  very  little  personal  com- 


280  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

munication  with  the  enlisted  man,  and  that  hearty 
sympathy  which  is  so  prized  is  ahnost  entirely  lost. 
When  a  man  becomes  a  general  he  is  removed  so  far 
that  nearly  all  his  intercourse  with  the  ranks  is  at  an 
end ;  besides,  he  really  belongs  then  to  no  one  body  of 
men.  The  esprit  de  corps  of  the  regiment  is  at  an 
end ;  he  really  has  around  him  only  his  staff  and  a  few 
soldiers  detailed  from  their  companies  for  headquarters 
duty. 

Our  military  women,  who  have  been  proud  of  the 
regiment,  and  who  have  shared  its  marches,  dangers, 
deprivations,  etc.,  as  if  it  were  a  privilege,  entering  into 
the  domestic  life  of  its  officers  and  enlisted  men  as  if 
they  were  all  akin,  are  completely  at  sea  when  re- 
moved, after  years,  from  such  association.  I  saw  Mrs. 
Miles  soon  after  her  husband's  promotion  to  be  a  brig- 
adier-general. She  was  in  Southern  California,  sur- 
rounded with  the  vineyards,  rose  trellises,  the  bloom 
and  verdure  of  that  American  Italy ;  but  her  heart  was 
still  longing  for  the  women  with  whom  she  had  kept 
vigil  when  the  men  were  on  a  campaign  on  the  bleak 
wastes  of  Dakota.  She  could  not  forget  those  men  and 
women  with  whom  she  had  suffered  in  the  blizzards, 
siroccos,  hurricanes,  and  above  all  the  unceasing  fear  and 
anxiety  about  hostile  Indians.  At  their  last  station  in 
Dakota  the  post  was  built  on  a  dreary  flat  plain,  with 
no  trees,  no  anything  to  look  at  but  one  of  those  curi- 
ous buttes  rising  directly  out  of  the  ground,  the  result 
of  the  cracking  of  the  earth's  heated  surface  during 
the  upheavals  of  the  far-away  ages.     Nothing  could  be 


ARMY    PROMOTIONS.  281 

more  hideous  than  this  bare,  uninteresting,  sharp  eleva- 
tion ;  it  was  a  blot  upon  the  face  of  the  earth ;  but  Mrs. 
Miles  told  me  that  instead  of  luxuriating  among  the 
flowers  surrounding  her,  her  eyes  were  turning  back 
to  those  she  loved,  and  to  the  spot  where,  though  she 
had  been  so  anxious,  she  still  had  been  so  happj,  and 
she  added,  "  Bear  Butte  seems  now  the  most  beautiful 
thing  I  ever  saw." 

Another  woman,  torn  (as  is  the  army's  cruel  fate) 
from  those  associates  she  valued,  was  asked  if,  after 
all  those  years  of  dearth,  she  did  not  enjoy  the  won- 
derful climbing  roses  that  cover  the  quarters  at  the 
Presidio  in  San  Francisco.  Petulantly,  and  almost  tear- 
fully, she  replied,  "  I  hate  roses."  And  so  it  goes.  I 
believe  that  military  people  come  as  near  getting  hap- 
piness independent  of  surroundings  as  any  class  of  peo- 
ple I  know ;  but  then  domestic  happiness  is  the  rule  in 
army  life,  and  if  there  are  no  storms  inside  the  quar- 
ters, what  boisterous  wind  or  rain  outside  is  going  to 
make  much  difference  ? 

A  bright  woman  whom  I  know,  born  in  the  purple, 
was  courageous  enough  to  marry  out  of  a  fashionable 
New  York  life  into  the  simplicity  and  poverty  of  the 
army.  It  was  a  decade  since,  when  Indians  roamed  at 
will  where  now  a  web  of  five  Pacific  Railroads,  with 
their  collateral  branches,  spreads  over  the  rapidly  fill- 
ing plains.  It  took  months  of  marching  to  reach  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Hardships  could  not  be  avoided; 
scarcely  anything  but  the  barest  necessities  could  be 
taken  along,  with  the  limited  transportation.     Still  this 


28S  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

belle  in  Gotham  looked  all  this  life  in  the  face,  and 
set  over  against  her  sheltered,  luxurious  existence  the 
privilege  of  marrying  the  man  of  her  choice,  and  taking 
up  a  career  full  of  sacrifices.  After  she  had  experi- 
mented for  a  time  in  tliis  new  life,  and  knew  its  trials 
as  well  as  its  compensations,  she  heard  some  one  say 
that  a  certain  woman  whom  she  knew  had  married  into 
the  army,  and  married  for  love.  "  Good  heavens !" 
she  exclaimed  in  her  excitement,  "  what  else  could  she 
marry  for  ?" 

One  of  the  edicts  which  this  woman  could  not  quiet- 
ly accept  was  the  manner  in  which  the  Government 
saw  fit  to  arrange  promotion.  Until  after  a  colonelcy 
is  reached  everything  advances  by  grade.  Death,  dis- 
missal, resignation,  and  retiring  from  illness  or  from 
age  are  the  causes  that  make  vacancies.  The  bride 
tenderly  reared  could  not  reconcile  herself  to  the  calm 
calculation  of  oSicers  who  sat  down  to  go  over  the 
list  of  those  who  ranked  them,  and  to  estimate  how 
many  years  it  would  take  for  those  in  the  way  to 
be  removed,  either  by  Divine  Providence  or  by  dis- 
missal. With  finger  on  the  Army  Register  they  dis- 
posed of  one  after  another  in  something  after  this  fash- 
ion: Such  a  one  "will  'hand  in  his  chips'  soon  if  he 
don't  leave  John  Barleycorn  alone."  Such  and  such 
a  one  "is  going  under  from  disease  contracted  during 
the  war,  or  from  an  old  wound."  A  third  "  has  had  a 
fortune  left  him,  and  he  will  '  light  out '  for  civil  life 
soon."  Still  another  "  begins  to  totter  with  age  and  im- 
becility, and  can't  sit  a  horse  any  longer ;  he  will  be  re- 


ARMY   PROMOTIONS.  283 

tired  shortly."  Of  another  who  was  constantly  being 
tried  it  was  said,  "  Some  court-martial  will  get  him  yet 
and  send  him  flying." 

The  new-comer  listened  to  all  this  calculating  of 
chances  as  to  vacancies  and  promotions  with  outraged 
feelings  ;  but  her  horror  culminated  when  her  own  hus- 
band, a  lieutenant,  rushed  into  the  quarters  one  day  per- 
forming a  can-can,  swinging  his  cap,  and  calling  out  to 
her  in  glee,  "  Fan,  such  and  such  a  ship  has  gone  down 
at  sea,  so  and  so  is  lost,  and  I'm  a  captain."  I  laughed 
till  the  tears  came,  to  see  her  face  as  she  told  me  of  this 
shock  to  her  sensibilities,  and  of  her  astonishment  to 
think  that  her  own  husband  could  manifest  such  ap- 
parent heartlessness  ;  and  even  though  all  this  occurred 
years  ago,  she  became  rigid  with  indignation  at  the  rec- 
ollection. 

I  felt  with  her  most  keenly,  and  could  not  become 
accustomed  to  the  manner  in  which  news  of  the  death 
of  an  officer  at  some  other  post  was  met.  The  officers 
said,  if  they  liked  him,  "  Poor  fellow !  I'm  sorry  he's 
gone" ;  but  the  inevitable  question  that  followed  was, 
"  Whom  will  it  promote  ?"  The  Army  Register  was  at 
once  in  requisition,  and  the  file  looked  up.  Still  I  think 
that  apparent  momentary  want  of  feeling  is  no  worse 
than  the  manner  in  w^hich  civilians  receive  the  news  of 
a  man's  demise  by  asking,  "  Did  he  leave  any  money  ?" 

A  law  that  has  gone  into  effect  wuthin  the  last  few 
years,  retiring  an  officer  at  sixty-two  years  of  age,  does 
away  with  the  somewhat  unseemly  haste  with  which 
the  rank  of  an  officer  dying  was  looked  up,  for  the 


284  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

reckoning  is  all  made  out  long  before  the  period  of  re- 
tirement approaches  ;  and  a  very  good  estimate  in  many 
instances  can  be  obtained  by  a  man  waiting  for  his  pro- 
motion, by  summing  up  the  length  of  service  or  age  of 
officers  who  are  near  or  at  the  head  of  the  list.  Even 
now  there  occurs  a  calculation  that  verges  on  cruelty, 
for  one  of  my  friends,  who  was  recovering  from  the 
lingering  fever  that  invaded  our  ranks  at  the  South, 
nearly  went  into  a  relapse  at  sight  of  the  pencil-marks 
of  a  brother  officer — fortunately  a  man  of  a  type  that 
is  not  common  among  our  warm-hearted  military  men. 
The  doors  of  the  quarters  of  most  military  posts  stand 
invitingly  open,  and  an  entrance,  if  closed,  is  rarely 
locked,  so  the  invalid  feebly  made  his  way  into  adjoin- 
ing quarters,  and  sat  down  by  the  table  to  rest  and 
await  the  return  of  the  occupant.  The  open  Army 
Register^  always  more  fascinating  to  an  officer  than  a 
novel,  attracted  him.  I^ame  after  name  was  either 
marked  out  or  had  annotations  explaining  causes  why 
there  was  uncertainty  about  the  person  remaining  in 
service ;  but,  to  his  anger  and  disgust,  there  was  no 
query-mark  opposite  his ;  the  neighbor,  calculating  on 
his  death,  had  already  drawn  a  line  through  the  entire 
name.  Slamming  the  book  shut,  he  left  with  far  more 
vigor  than  he  had  entered,  and  from  that  time  on  he 
determined  to  get  well. 

During  our  war  officers  were  often  overslaughed, 
and  this  setting  aside  of  the  old  rule  of  promotion  by 
file  rankled  in  the  heart  of  an  officer  whom  we  knew. 
He  was  irreproachable  on  duty,  but  once  inside  his  quar- 


ARMY   PROMOTIONS.  285 

ters  he  brooded  over  his  wrongs  until  he  was  almost 
frenzied  with  anger,  and  wild  sounds  of  an  upraised 
voice,  and  the  clatter  and  thumps  of  disturbed  furni- 
ture, slamming  doors,  etc.,  penetrated  the  walls ;  in  gar- 
rison, where  the  houses  are  so  near  each  other,  it  was 
impossible  to  ignore  the  turmoil.  An  officer  entering 
to  inform  himself  regarding  the  disturbance  found  a 
farce  going  on,  that  he  quietly  witnessed,  and  after- 
wards as  quietly  withdrew  from,  for  the  subject  that 
brouglit  on  the  fracas  was  one  that  produced  too  lively 
sympathy  in  a  brother  officer  to  induce  him  to  inter- 
fere. The  overslaughed  man  had  called  a  number  of 
chairs  by  the  name  of  each  of  the  officers  who  had 
jumped  him  in  promotion.  Addressing  them  individ- 
ually by  their  old  title,  and  calling  himself  by  the  rank 
he  should  have  had  if  promotion  had  gone  on  regular- 
ly, he  said :  "  You  will  rank  Colonel  So-and-so  "  (calling 
his  own  name),  "  will  you  ?  Well,  I'll  see,"  and  imme- 
diately kicked  the  chair  out  of  the  room.  Each  chair 
suffered  the  same  fate,  and  when  the  room  was  empty 
the  incensed  man  banged  the  door,  and  sat  down,  with 
a  sigh  of  satisfaction,  to  get  back  his  breath  and  to 
cool  off. 

I  still  think,  as  I  have  said  before,  that  there  is  no 
profession  with  such  drawbacks  to  ambition  as  the 
army.  No  amount  of  merit,  not  even  years  of  constant 
successful  achievement,  can  give  an  officer  the  slightest 
promotion.  In  other  professions  the  winner  leaps  over 
the  heads  of  his  contestants.  In  military  life  the  way 
of  art  ambitious  man  is  often  clogged  by  an  officer  just 


286  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

above  him  who  has  ciphered  out  the  problem  of  do- 
ing only  the  barest  necessary  duties,  and  he  frequent- 
ly gets  himself  into  such  a  beaten  path  that  he  goes 
through  the  form  loaded  with  liquor,  which  leaves  his 
knees  a  little  uncertain  and  wobbly,  but  he  preserves 
sufficient  intellect,  befogged  as  it  is,  to  pass  muster.  I 
believe  in  belonging  to  a  profession  where  every  one 
knows  that  in  striving  for  mastery  there  is  no  impedi- 
ment to  gaining  the  reward  of  success,  and  where,  if 
one  is  gifted  or  persevering,  he  can  leap  over  the  dull 
or  indifferent  to  a  higher  rung  in  the  ladder. 

Another  excitement  besides  the  promotion  of  an  offi- 
cer was  the  advent  of  the  paymaster.  If  the  country 
over  which  he  had  to  travel  would  admit  of  it,  he  came 
every  two  months ;  and  money,  even  out  there  in  that 
desert,  where  there  was  little  chance  to  use  it  except 
for  the  prosaic  necessities  of  life,  had  much  the  same 
effect  on  every  one  as  it  has  in  the  States.  The  officers 
often  found  roll-call  a  farce  for  a  day  or  two,  as  the 
soldiers  drew  their  pay  and  slid  off  around  the  quarters 
to  the  sutler's  store,  or  waited  till  nightfall  and  went  in 
groups  to  the  little  collection  of  gin-shops  usually  just 
outside  the  confines  of  tlie  reservation,  and  invariably 
called  a  city,  even  if  there  were  but  six  huts.  If  their 
comrades  brought  the  drunkest  of  them  home  they  hid 
them  until  the  next  day,  and  a  sorrier  sight  than  those 
bruised,  pallid,  broken-up  men  after  a  tipsy  brawl  can- 
not be  imagined.  I  know  that  citizens  will  ask  why 
is  not  drunkenness  abolished  in  the  service,  but  they 
jnust  go  out  to  our  posts,  and  see  the  material  of  which 


ARMY    PROMOTIONS.  287 

our  army  is  composed,  before  they  judge  the  question. 
Certainly  the  best  efforts  of  the  most  earnest  and  hon- 
orable men  I  have  ever  known  were  brought  to  bear 
on  this  question,  and  it  is  still  an  unsolved  problem. 

I  should  be  the  last  to  say  our  ranks  were  filled  up 
with  failures — I  who  am  so  indebted  to  the  enlisted 
men  for  protection  and  a  hundred  kindnesses ;  and  be- 
sides, do  I  not  know  well  what  superb  soldiers  they 
were  in  time  of  battle  or  in  the  hour  of  peril  and 
emergency — even  these  very  ones  who  celebrated  pay- 
day with  a  brawl  ?  If  there  could  be  a  country  where 
no  whiskey  was  ever  imported,  and  to  which  the  pay- 
master never  came,  there  w^ould  not  be  the  difficulty 
that  exists ;  but  fortunately  all  the  money  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  easily  tempted  men  changed  hands  soon, 
and  peace  reigned  until  the  two  months  were  up. 

The  paymasters  of  our  army  get  little  honorable 
mention  of  their  service,  which,  in  the  Territories,  is 
often  very  perilous.  They  have  for  many  years  trav- 
elled with  comparatively  small  escorts  through  the 
most  hotly  contested  of  the  Indian  country,  and  as  the 
railroads  were  being  built  and  the  towns  laid  out,  a 
class  of  outlaws  were  the  first  to  populate  them.  These 
desperadoes  followed  and  robbod  the  paymaster  unless 
the  utmost  vigilance  was  observed.  On  the  open  plain 
the  escort  could  guard  against  an  attack,  but  where  a 
mountain  defile  was  entered,  or  a  canon  was  being 
crossed,  or  the  way  lay  through  the  Bad  Lands,  behind 
whose  columnar  buttes  many  Indians  might  ^ide  or 
desperadoes  lie  in  wait,  the  danger  was  often   very 


288  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

great.  Part  of  the  escort  dismounted  and  were  de- 
ployed in  advance  of  the  ambulances  containing  the 
paymaster  and  his  travelling  outfit,  and  the  drivers  and 
officer  himself  rode  over  these  dangerous  routes  with 
rifles  in  hand. 

We  often  entertained  the  paymaster,  and  on  one  oc- 
casion I  remember  that  he  was  going  to  luncheon  with 
General  Custer  and  me.  Suddenly  the  innocent  little 
valise  that  he  carried  attracted  our  attention,  and  Gen- 
eral Custer  asked  me  if  I  would  mind  staying  in  our 
room  with  it  until  the  paymaster  was  through  with  his 
luncheon.  Certainly  I  did  not  mind,  but  I  was  curious, 
of  course.  What  daughter  of  Eve  would  not  be  ?  How- 
ever, I  shut  myself  in,  and  after  a  little  I  divined  what 
this  mysterious  seclusion  meant.  One  w^oman  out  of 
all  those  hundreds  of  men  was  sitting  up  there  on 
guard  over  from  fifty  to  seventy  thousand  dollars  in 
bills,  for  it  took  fully  that  to  pay  officers,  soldiers,  and 
quartermaster's  employes. 


•Retreat 


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CHAPTER  XX. 


A   FLOOD   ON   BIG   CREEK. 


Bright  and  joyous  as  were  those  summer  days  on 
Big  Creek,  it  was  not  all  sunshine  as  to  weather.  The 
rainy  season  in  the  spring  and  early  summer  kept  us 
in  a  damp,  moist,  unpleasant  state,  but  after  that  was 
ended  we  had  few  showers.  Whatever  Kansas  did  was 
with  a  rush  ;  the  lightning  was  more  terrific  than  light- 
ning elsewhere,  the  rain  poured  down  in  floods,  and 
the  wind  blew  hurricanes.  In  the  years  that  have  since 
elapsed,  the  breaking  of  the  soil  into  farms,  and  the 
planting  of  crops  and  trees,  have  materially  changed 
the  order  of  things.  Our  experience  was  in  the  tem- 
pestuous times,  and  we  were  always  expecting  some 
sudden  announcement  of  Mother  JSTature,  who  did  not 
propose  to  treat  us  to  anything  like  a  gentle  shower, 
or  a  soft  south  wind  that  might  be  trying  to  "  blow  up 
19 


290  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

rain."  Everything  came  with  a  mighty  "whew !"  and 
we  knew  enough  to  rush  our  property  into  the  tents, 
and  begin  to  fortify,  when  that  ominous  vibrating  of 
the  upper  branches  of  the  cotton -wood  trees  began. 
The  soldiers  in  charge  of  headquarters  came  with  axes 
to  drive  down  the  picket-pins ;  the  ropes  were  tighten- 
ed, and  the  straps  that  secured  the  opening  all  tightly 
buckled. 

I  remember  being  thus  strapped  in  one  day,  and 
thanking  the  sergeant,  telling  him  that  he  need  not 
stay  as  I  was  "  all  right";  but  I  was,  in  fact,  anything 
but  all  right,  for  I  was  speechless  with  fear  when  the 
storm  began.  I  would  not  call  to  Eliza,  for  she  would 
get  wet  coming  to  me ;  General  Custer  was  in  another 
part  of  the  camp,  and  I  saw  my  fate  was  to  brave  the 
hurricane  alone.  I  concluded  to  take  up  as  secure  a 
place  as  I  could,  and  await  the  catastrophe  which  seem- 
ed inevitable.  The  lightning  on  the  plains  is  omni- 
present; it  is  sucli  a  continuous  glare  that  the  whole 
heavens  seem  a  vast  sheet  of  flame.  I  could  not  accus- 
tom myself  to  it,  and  as  long  as  we  lived  out  there 
each  storm  was  a  new  terror  to  me.  In  a  tent  it  is  im- 
possible to  hide  one's  eyes  from  the  flashes.  To  add 
to  my  terrors,  immense  hailstones  pelted  down  on  the 
cotton  roof  with  such  savage  force  that  I  believed 
no  canvas  could  withstand  their  fury.  My  last  look 
through  the  opening  was  at  a  deserted  camp,  the  whole 
command  having  gone  out  of  sight  into  their  tents. 
When  I  believed  myself  condemned  to  meet  fate  alone, 
a  quick  tugging  at  the  straps  began,  and  General  Cns- 


A  FLOOD  ON   BIG   CREEK.  291 

ter  leaped  into  the  aperture,  drenched  with  the  storm. 
I  came  out  from  under  the  bed,  where  I  had  laken  up 
what  I  thought  a  safe  position,  and  began,  woman-like, 
to  question  why  he  had  ventured  into  such  danger. 
He  had  remembered  ray  terror  of  lightning,  and  had 
made  a  rush  over  the  unprotected  parade-ground,  with 
the  hailstones  pounding  down  on  him  like  a  shower  of 
lead.  Such  hail  no  one  out  there  had  ever  seen  be- 
fore. The  Smithies  measured  many  of  the  hailstones 
that  day,  and  the  average  was  from  an  inch  to  an  inch 
and  a  half  through.  Captain  Smith  made  a  dash  for 
home  from  the  grazing-ground,  his  horse  running  at 
a  fearful  pace,  with  a  little  dog  yelping  with  pain  from 
the  pelting  he  got  following  at  his  heels.  Lumps  which 
were  tender  to  the  touch  for  days  afterwards  were 
raised  on  the  captain's  head. 

The  pitiful  part  of  it  was  the  unprotected  condi- 
tion of  the  horses ;  they  had  to  endure  all  the  violence 
of  the  elements,  with  no  shelter.  It  was  strange  how 
wonderfully  sleek,  fat,  and  well  they  kept  if  there 
were  no  hard  marches  to  w^ear  them  down.  The  pro- 
longed storms  of  the  rainy  season  did  not  appear  to 
reduce  them.  They  seemed  to  think  their  home,  the 
picket  rope,  gave  them  every  luxury.  We  were  often 
amused  to  see  the  whole  number  out  grazing  volun- 
tarily start  home  when  a  few  drops  of  rain  fell.  They 
either  ran  up  to  the  picket  rope,  or  made  those  teeter- 
ing and  awkward  leaps  that  a  hobbled  animal  makes ; 
and  when  the  rope  was  reached  they  seemed  to  feel 
themselves  as  secure  as  if  within  the  driest  of  stables. 


292  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

There  was  one  especial  storm  that  I  have  cause  to 
remember,  for  it  came  near  being  as  serious  as  the 
one  described  in  Tenting  on  the  Plains  the  summer  be- 
fore, when  lives  were  lost.  One  lovely  day,  with  an 
azure  sky  and  soft  velvety  wind  that  seemed  to  blow 
from  the  Arcady  of  the  poets,  I  sat  under  the  fly  of 
our  tent,  reading,  or  living  that  dolee  far  niente  ex- 
istence which  camp-life  induces,  when  the  air  sudden- 
ly chilled,  and  I  felt  sure  the  change  was  some  sort  of 
a  weather  precursor.  It  was  one  of  the  vagaries  of  tlie 
Kansas  climate  that  deliglited  in  sudden  alternations 
from  summer  to  winter.  After  I  had  put  on  a  wrap 
I  sat  down  to  await  the  next  change.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  sky  dulled,  and  an  ominous  roar  came  rum- 
bling over  the  plains — "  a  voice  of  the  noise  of  rain." 
Then  I  ran  off  to  find  Henry,  and  tell  him  that  I  fear- 
ed a  freshet.  He  confirmed  my  fears  by  telKng  me 
the  water  had  "  been  on  the  rise  right  smart  of  time 
already."  I  left  him  to  go  to  the  headquarters  ser- 
geant, and  ask  him  quietly  to  prepare  for  what  I  be- 
lieved would  be  a  terrible  storm,  and  come  to  me  if  it 
began  to  rain.  He  was  so  accustomed  to  these  fright- 
ened confidences  of  mine  when  terror  overtook  me  that 
he  was  willing  to  come  even  if  he  himself  thought  it 
was  only  a  "  woman's  notion."  If  in  the  military  rec- 
ommendation that  General  Custer  wrote  out  for  him 
I  had  been  permitted  to  add  a  line,  it  would  not  have 
been  official ;  it  would  only  have  been  my  testimony  to 
his  capability  of  making  a  good  husband,  he  was  such 
a  patient  man  with  a  woman's  fears. 


A  FLOOD   ON   BIG   CREEK.  293 

When  I  came  back  to  the  fly  General  Custer  looked 
up  from  his  absorption  in  his  book,  and  asked  me  where 
I  had  been.  I  temporized,  for  I  did  not  like  to  admit 
that  I  was  already  scared  before  a  drop  of  rain  had 
fallen.  He  persisted,  and  finding  out  my  agitation,  as- 
sured me  that  I  was  foolish,  that  we  were  a  good  dis- 
tance from  the  creek,  that  I  need  not  be  disturbed  yet. 
I  argued  that  our  camp  being  on  such  a  loop  of  land, 
the  stream  might  cut  a  channel  across  the  narrow  part, 
and  leave  us  on  an  island  exactly  as  the  little  knot  of 
men  were  cut  off  the  summer  before.  Time  enough 
to  prepare  for  that,  he  replied ;  and  not  realizing  the 
genuineness  of  my  trepidation,  lie  strolled  off  across  the 
parade-ground  to  practise  shots  on  the  billiard  -  table 
that  the  sutler  had  put  in  the  hall  the  soldiers  built 
for  their  amusement.  With  the  remembrance  of  what 
Big  Creek  could  do  in  the  way  of  a  rise — for  measure- 
ments the  summer  before  proved  that  it  went  up  an 
inch  a  minute — I  prepared  for  what  might  come,  and 
threw  our  few  camp  garments  into  the  trunk,  heaped 
the  chairs,  etc.,  on  the  table,  tied  down  the  window- 
flap  at  the  rear,  and  sat  down  to  watch  the  clouds.  It 
seemed  but  a  few  moments  before  the  sky  darkened, 
and  the  shriek  and  whistle  of  the  keen  wind  came  over 
the  prairie,  and  twisted  the  leaves  and  branches  of  our 
few  protecting  trees,  cracking  the  dry  twigs  and  break- 
ing the  exposed  branches.  Meanwhile  the  stream  was 
beginning  to  tear  along,  carrying  with  it  underbrush, 
logs,  and  saplings  attached  to  great  clumps  of  earth  still 
held  together  by  the  net-work  of  roots.     The  sergeant 


294  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

and  his  men  were  soon  all  activity,  and  Henry  ran 
hither  and  thither,  intent  on  the  horses'  safety. 

With  the  roar  of  the  storm  coming  over  the  track- 
less waste  beyond  us  at  sixty  miles  an  hour  came  big 
drops  of  rain  and  great  clouds  of  dust.  How  I  wished 
that  we  had  a  "dugout"  in  the  side  of  the  bank! 
Finally  a  wall  of  rain  advanced  towards  us,  cutting  as 
clear  a  swath  as  it  came  as  if  it  had  marked  out  the 
path  in  advance.  Whether  it  was  due  to  water-spouts 
or  to  cloud-bursts  we  did  not  know;  but  there  was 
some  mighty  power  behind  all  that  sudden  change 
from  sunshine  to  storm.  No  ordinary  progress  of 
nature's  laws  produced  the  startling  transformation. 

Not  long  since  Eliza,  the  dear,  faithful  friend  of 
those  days,  came  to  pay  me  a  visit  from  her  Ohio 
home,  and  in  talking  over  the  happy  past  she  recalled 
the  storm ;  the  description  was  so  characteristic  that 
I  shall  give  it:  "The  first  notion  that  I  had  of  the 
creek  risin'  was  a  crash,  and  things  come  tumblin'  and 
knockin'  against  my  tent.  It  had  a  wood  floor,  and  it 
began  to  ride  up  and  down,  and  out  floated  the  things, 
and  I  dragged  my  trunk  and  all  the  cookin'  utensils  I 
could  get  hold  of  up  on  the  hill-side.  Then  my  tent 
cut  loose  from  the  moorin's.  Big  trees  and  roots  and 
parts  of  cabins  and  a  wash-stand  and  a  bed-tick  from  a 
settler's  place  up  near  the  fort  came  a-tearin'  down  by. 
It  was  all  in  a  minute.  My  shoes  and  stockin's  was 
off,  and  I  was  a-wadin'  around  catchin'  hold  of  my 
cookin'  things  and  holdin'  in  a  long  pole  to  gather  in 
the  half-drowned  chickens.     I  was  a  heap  more  con- 


A   FLOOD   ON   BIG   CREEK.  295 

cerned  about  my  kitclien  things  than  I  was  about  my 
clothes.  Those  wind-storras  come  so  sudden !  They 
would  just  tear  up  everything,  and  while  we  was 
a-strivin^  to  save  the  beddin'  and  tins  from  the  water 
the  wind  was  twistin'  the  tent  and  whirlin'  all  sorts  of 
things  around  our  head.  Well,  the  ginnel  he  come 
a-flyin'  home  then,  and  I  says  to  him, '  There  is  goin'  to 
be  a  big  storm ;'  and  he  says  '  Yes,'  and  sent  right  off  for 
the  men  to  drive  the  picket-pins  in  and  tighten  the 
ropes.  My  tent  was  so  nice ;  but  dear  me !  I  heard  the 
tins  and  the  iron  things  a-rattlin',  and  the  ginnel  said, 
'You  needn't  be  afraid;  there's  no  danger  of  your  tent 
a-goin'.'  It  was  down  under  the  hill  a  bit,  and  I  tell 
you  it  did  go,  though.  Tin  pans,  buckets,  fryin'-pans, 
all  tumbled  and  pitched  about  in  a  heap,  and  the 
tent  was  lifted  on  high  and  blown  away  off  on  the 
parade-ground  for  good.  Such  a  gatherin' !  — such  a 
gatherin'  as  I  had  of  the  things ;  and  then  the  ginnel 
would  stand  and  holler  to  me  while  I  was  a-pickin' 
them  up  and  say,  'How  long  before  dinner?'  when  1 
hadn't  one  thing  to  get  dinner  with,  nor  even  a  sliver 
of  dry  wood.  I  jest  raised  my  head  while  I  was 
a-clutchin'  for  the  things  knee-deep  in  water,  and  said, 
'  Ginnel,  don't  you  say  dinner  to  me !'  " 

Meanwhile  Henry  was  not  idle ;  his  horses  were  his 
anxiety.  He  told  me  when  I  saw  him  last  that  the 
night  succeeding  the  storm  which  I  have  described, 
after  the  tempest  had  subsided  a  little  and  we  had 
gathered  our  scattered  belongings  together  and  set 
Eliza  up  in  another  tent  on  dry  land,  he  was  awakened 


296  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

by  a  great  rumbling  in  the  brush  and  trees.  His  tent 
was  only  fifty  feet  from  the  water :  "  I  sprang  from 
my  bed,  which  was  on  four-foot  stakes,  right  out  into 
three  feet  of  water.  The  night  was  very  dark,  and  I 
raised  the  alarm;  the  general  was  as  quick  as  a  flash 
out  of  his  tent  and  had  the  whole  regiment  standing 
ready  for  duty  to  remove  camp  in  case  the  water 
broke  over  the  banks.  When  I  got  to  my  horses  they 
were  almost  ready  to  strike  a  swim,  as  the  water  only 
had  to  rise  six  inches  more  to  break  all  over  the  camp. 
All  the  plunder  was  loaded  on  the  wagons,  and  it  had 
to  stay  loaded  for  over  twelve  hours  before  the  water 
began  to  fall,  and  after  it  did  fall  the  bridge  at  the  fort 
fell,  and  there  was  no  way  to  get  supplies."  Henry, 
after  all  this  excitement,  was  completely  disgusted  with 
the  Kansas  climate.  When  I  talked  with  him  as  he 
stayed  by  the  water  taking  measurements  on  a  stick  to 
watch  the  rising  of  the  stream,  he  acknowledged  that 
he  was  tired  of  roughing  it.  "  You  see.  Miss  Libbie," 
he  said,  "Manda — that's  the  yellow  girl  that  used  to 
take  care  of  Mrs.  Card's  baby — and  me  is  going  to  be 
married,  and  she  couldn't  no  more  stand  what  you 
does  than  anything,  so  I  must  go ;  and  I  think  as  you 
have  relatives  in  Topeka,  like  as  not  you  and  the  gen- 
eral would  be  a-coming  there  and  I  should  see  you,  so 
I  am  thinking  of  living  there.  Why,  Miss  Libbie,  the 
times  I've  been  washed  out  here  this  sunmier  I  can't 
count,  but  if  you  and  the  general  can  manage  to  pitch 
my  tent  on  a  boat  I  can  stay." 

Our  tent  had  three  feet  of  water  in  it  during  the 


A   FLOOD   ON   BIG   CREEK.  297 

next  day,  and  I  sat  a  long  time  in  the  travelling  wagon, 
in  the  midst  of  a  collection  of  household  possessions 
that  almost  buried  me.  The  horses  were  harnessed, 
ready  to  be  put  to  the  wagon  at  the  first  intimation 
that  the  water  had  risen  above  the  danger  line.  The 
hens,  becoming  almost  human  from  intimate  associa- 
tion and  sharing  hardships,  were  roosting  on  the  tongue, 
or  pecked  at  the  grass  under  the  wagon,  while  the  dogs 
leaped  in  and  out  over  me,  and  over  the  traps,  all  day. 
It  was  an  unending  day,  for  we  could  do  nothing  but 
wait  and  watch,  but  fortunately  the  rain  had  ceased. 
In  the  afternoon,  fearing  another  cloud-burst,  tents 
were  sent  out  of  camp  to  the  divide  that  sloped  gradu- 
ally from  the  stream,  and  we  slept  there.  Eliza  had 
found  a  little  wood,  and  putting  it  under  her  blankets 
at  night  to  keep  it  dry,  was  able  to  make  our  breakfast 
for  us. 

The  Smithies  meanwhile  were  in  equal  dilemma,  for 
their  tent  was  also  near  the  stream,  though  not  so  close 
to  it  as  ours.  They  rose  in  the  morning  and  found  the 
water  was  rising  very  fast,  but  thought  they  might 
get  breakfast  before  it  rose  higher.  The  stream  had 
then  reached  to  within  a  foot  of  the  tent.  When  they 
came  out  from  breakfast  they  were  obliged  to  jump 
across  a  stream  that  had  flowed  over  the  grass  during 
breakfast.  Then  they  began  to  pack  their  traps.  A 
detail  from  the  company  went  down  to  the  dining- 
tent,  and  lifted  the  table,  just  as  it  stood,  with  all  the 
dishes  onto  the  higher  ground.  The  water  increased 
so  rapidly  that  the  tent  was  in  danger  of  being  swept 


298  FOLLOWING  THE  GUIDON. 

away,  and  Tuttle,  their  man,  swam  out  to  loosen  the 
ropes.  After  this  the  luggage  was  bundled  into  the 
wagon,  and  the  Smithies  went  to  higher  ground. 

When  the  water  subsided  we  were  all  anxious  to  get 
back  to  our  tents  and  begin  home  life  again.  Every- 
thing in  our  place  was  soaked.  My  trunk  had  stood 
almost  entirely  under  water  during  the  storm,  and  the 
bedding  was  musty  and  moist.  A  bright  sun  helped 
us,  and  soon  all  we  had  was  flying  in  the  Kansas 
breeze.  The  whole  camp  became  a  perfect  sea  of  float- 
ing pennants,  while  horse -blankets  waved  from  the 
picket  line  like  a  brown  cloud.  The  same  wind  that 
had  blown  itself  into  a  hurricane  now  turned  about 
and  atoned  for  its  rage  by  drying  our  clothes.  In  my 
eagerness  to  possess  our  home  again  I  went  back  to 
the  damp  tent  too  soon,  and  soon  fell  ill  with  a  fever, 
which  continued  long  enough  to  prove  that  the  oldest 
veteran,  who  may  be  proof  against  the  active  drench- 
ing of  a  storm,  is  likely  to  succumb  if  careless  enough 
to  sleep  in  a  thoroughly  soaked  bed. 


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CHAPTER  XXL 

RATTLESNAKES   AS   NEIGHBORS. 

Before  I  close  the  story  of  our  summer  I  would 
like  to  write  of  some  of  the  neighbors  about  us  whom 
we  thought   altogether  too  neighborly.      The  rattle- 


300  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

snakes  of  the  plains  have  been  much  written  about  by 
Western  editors,  but  they  can  scarcely  have  too  elabo- 
rate English  expended  on  them;  they  were  every- 
where, and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
numbers  of  them  that  surrounded  us.  Our  camp  soon 
became  too  much  of  a  thoroughfare  to  make  it  safe  for 
a  snake  to  dispute  the  territory,  and  the  soldiers  going 
back  and  forth  on  duty,  the  dogs  constantly  racing  over 
every  inch  of  the  ground,  the  servants  perpetually  trav- 
elling to  and  fro  from  the  cook  tent  to  ours,  protected 
us  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  our  habitation ;  but 
the  moment  we  rode  out  of  camp  over  the  plains 
the  reptiles  appeared,  sometimes  gliding  away,  often 
coiled  for  a  spring,  occasionally  torpid,  and  gorged 
with  a  toad  or  a  bird  which  they  had  swallowed  whole, 
and  which  went  down  slowly,  distending  and  distorting 
their  sides.  There  was  no  trouble  with  our  horses  in 
the  matter  of  ceding  to  the  snakes  the  right  of  way, 
but  it  was  surprising  that  they  showed  so  little  fear  of 
them. 

It  seems  to  need  the  support  of  the  commanding 
general  of  all  the  United  States  forces  to  fortify  any 
one  who  begins  to  talk  about  this  subject.  Snake 
stories,  like  the  tales  of  fishermen,  must  always,  on  the 
part  of  the  listener,  be  heard  with  a  spirit  of  combative- 
ness.  People  square  themselves  for  a  fight,  and  are 
ready  to  dispute  step  by  step  the  progress  of  a  story. 
It  was,  therefore,  with  genuine  pleasure  at  the  privi- 
lege of  listening  to  so  good  a  talker,  but  with  an  atom 
of  exultation,  that  I  heard  General  Sherman  hold  forth 


RATTLESNAKES   AS   NEIGHBORS.  301 

on  our  plains  rattlesnakes.  To  begin  with,  the  wild- 
est spinner  of  yarns  can  scarcely  say  too  much  on  the 
subject.  The  snakes  swarmed  over  the  route  of  our 
march ;  they  lined  the  way  when  we  went  for  a  hunt  or 
a  pleasure  ride.  General  Sherman,  replying  to  a  wom- 
an's question,  "And  were  not  the  soldiers  often  bit- 
ten ?"  replied  that  they  were  seldom  fatally  injured,  as 
they  were  instructed  as  recruits  by  their  officers,  the 
surgeons,  and  the  veteran  soldiers  how  to  protect  them- 
selves in  case  of  the  fatal  sting.  It  is  found  that  the 
snake  throws  itself  about  three  times  its  own  length 
from  where  it  is  coiled  for  a  spring.  Not  being  able, 
therefore,  to  strike  its  fangs  in  higher  than  the  calf  of 
the  leg,  the  trousers  often  absorb  a  portion  of  the  poi- 
son. If  the  surgeon  is  near,  he  applies  ammonia  to  the 
wound,  and  stupefies  the  injured  man  with  liquor.  The 
whiskey  is  poured  down  as  fast  as  the  man  can  swallow ; 
this,  retarding  the  circulation,  prevents  the  blood-vessels 
from  carrying  the  poison  to  the  vitals. 

The  part  of  General  Sherman's  conversation  that 
touched  me  was  his  tribute  to  the  affection  and  devo- 
tion of  the  private  soldier.  If  the  surgeon  is  too  far 
away  to  be  reached,  the  soldier  resorts  to  his  homely 
devices  to  save  his  comrade's  life.  A  bit  of  buffalo 
bone  is  used  to  scrape  and  irritate  the  flesh  about  the 
wound,  and  cause  a  flow  of  blood  outwardly.  One  of 
the  men,  if  he  happens  not  to  have  an  abrasion  on  the 
lips,  stoops  instantly  to  draw  the  poison  from  the  places 
where  the  fangs  have  entered.  There  is  never  a  lack 
of  offers  among  those  fearless  devoted  men  to  suck 


302  FOLLOWING  THE  GTHDON. 

into  their  own  mouths  tlie  deadly  fluid.  If  ammonia 
is  not  to  be  had,  they  seek  the  black  mud  which  forms 
the  baked  surface  of  a  sun-dried  buffalo  wallow.  Wet- 
ting it,  and  applying  this  to  the  wound,  enough  am- 
monia is  extracted  to  aid  the  cure.  Then — ah !  I  know 
all  this  myself,  because  I  have  been  among  our  self-sac- 
rificing soldiers  out  there,  and  have  been  taught  many 
a  lesson  of  generosity  and  devotion ;  they  either  watch 
over  their  wounded  comrade  till  he  is  restored,  or  if  he 
be  sunk  into  drunken  lethargy,  they  lift  him  into  an 
army  wagon  as  carefully  as  the  experienced  surgeon 
and  hospital  nurse  remove  an  injured  man  from  our 
city  pavement  to  the  ambulance. 

This  reminds  me  of  one  of  our  surgeons,  Dr.  B.  J.  D. 
Irwin,  of  our  army,  General  Custer's  warm  personal 
friend.  I  remember  the  pleasure  with  which  he  dis- 
covered, at  our  first  post  at  Fort  Riley,  a  weed  that  he 
had  not  supposed  grew  there,  which  was  an  antidote  for 
a  snake  bite.  He  held  this  little  ugly  scrap  of  vegeta- 
tion in  his  hand  as  if  he  had  in  his  possession  a  rare 
work  of  art,  and  breaking  the  stem,  from  which  exuded 
the  thick  white  sap,  he  gave  me  so  animated  a  descrip- 
tion of  what  cures  it  would  effect,  and  of  what  benefit 
this  discovery  was  to  suffering  humanity,  that  I  was  as 
pervaded  with  his  spirit  as  if  I  knew  the  blessed  art  of 
the  healer.  It  was  to  him  that  I  was  indebted  for  my 
first  insight  into  the  fervor  and  enthusiasm  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  the  generous  manner  in  which  their  dis- 
coveries are  given  to  the  world.  He  had  written  a  pa- 
per, after  making  this  successful  investigation  on  a  tour 


RATTLESNAKES   AS   NEIGHBORS.  303 

of  duty  in  New  Mexico,  that  there  might  be  no  delay 
in  the  use  of  this  life-saving  weed. 

Our  army  surgeons  have  contributed  a  good  deal  to 
the  learning  of  their  profession,  and  yet  how  quietly ! 
When  the  civilian  doctor  makes  his  successful  experi- 
ments, he  rarely  is  without  rewards,  often  of  a  financial 
character,  and  he  always  receives  the  tribute  of  admira- 
tion from  his  professional  brethren,  from  whom  he  hears 
personal  acknowledgments  on  the  street,  at  conven- 
tions, clubs,  and  the  city  hospitals.  Our  army  surgeons 
experiment,  study,  practice  in  their  distant  hospitals,  or 
in  the  field,  and  when  they  give  some  valuable  discov- 
ery in  science  to  their  fellow -workers  over  the  world 
they  add  nothing  to  their  limited  incomes,  and  the  voice 
of  applause  is  very  faint  when  it  reaches  the  isolated 
post  where  they  live  out  their  valuable  lives. 

My  admiration  of  them — working  as  they  must  with- 
out the  reward  of  wealth  or  the  sound,  sweet  to  every 
one,  of  deserved  praise — must  be  my  apology  for  leaving 
General  Sherman  and  the  snakes.  His  sense  of  humor 
made  him  stop  in  his  descriptions,  which  are  the  result 
of  his  many  years'  experience,  to  tell  one  of  his  Eastern 
hearers  that  the  Seventh  Cavalry  had  to  move  out  of  a 
dugout  on  account  of  the  snakes.  The  dugout,  he  ex- 
plained, is  a  hole  in  the  side  of  a  gulch  or  slough ; 
around  the  four  sides  the  men  lay  a  low  wall  of  turf, 
leaving  an  entrance  framed  by  a  hardtack  box ;  over 
the  piled-up  sods  the  boughs  of  trees  are  laid  as  a  roof, 
and  on  this  dirt  is  heaped  until  it  can  hardly  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  ground  around  it.    In  this  fortress 


304  FOLLOWDTG   THE   GUIDON. 

made  of  such  materials  as  are  supplied  by  motlier-eartli 
(barring  the  cracker-box  door)  he  had  known  four  men 
defend  themselves  against  hundreds  of  Indians,  as  they 
stood  on  the  dirt  floor,  only  lifting  themselves  to  the 
loop-hole  in  order  to  fire.  But,  he  continued,  when  the 
Indians  failed  to  dislodge  them,  and  rode  away  dis- 
couraged, the  rattlesnake  succeeded.  It  was  easy  for 
them  to  crawl  into  the  loop-holes,  which  were  on  a  level 
with  the  surface  of  the  plain,  and  short  work  to  go  on 
down  into  the  blankets  of  the  troopers.  The  general 
says  they  dearly  love  warmth.  Finally,  he  added,  the 
Seventh  Cavalry  grew  discouraged,  and  made  a  bargain 
with  the  snakes,  giving  them  the  original  dugout,  while 
they  went  to  work,  patiently,  to  burro w"  themselves  into 
another,  and  it  was  no  easy  thing,  with  few  and  poor 
tools,  to  get  a  hole  excavated  large  enough  to  give  shel- 
ter and  safety  to  even  a  handful  of  soldiers. 

When  General  Sherman  began  to  speak  of  the  sol- 
diers utilizing  the  rattlesnake  as  food,  his  semicircle  of 
worn  en -listeners  raised  their  hands  in  protest.  I  re- 
joiced to  hear  him  speak  of  it,  feeling  sure  he  would 
fortify  me  in  what  I  have  already  said,  or  intend  to, 
about  General  Custer's  experiments  in  that  gastronom- 
ic feat.  He  says  that  when  the  rattlesnake  pokes  his 
head  out  of  the  prairie-dog  hole,  where  he  has  invited 
himself  to  live,  without  giving  the  architect  of  his  home 
a  voice  in  the  matter,  the  watching,  hungry  soldier  clips 
the  snake's  head  off  with  his  sabre,  and,  skinning  him, 
gets  as  good  a  dinner  by  broiling  him  over  the  coals  of  a 
camp-fire  as  if  he  had  an  eel.     I  know  that  they  often 


RATTLESNAKES    AS    NEIGHBORS.  305 

did  tliis ;  and,  after  all,  what  difference  does  it  make 
to  that  devil-may-care  trooper  how  he  possesses  himself 
of  that  which  will  vary  his  salt  pork  and  hardtack? 
Besides,  do  we  not  remember  our  child-stories  of  the 
giants  and  hobgoblins,  and  how,  when  they  encounter- 
ed any  one  they  hated,  they  were  made  to  say,  "  I'll  eat 
you?"  Surely  it  is  a  most  effectual  way  of  disposing 
of  an  enemy,  especially  a  reptile  that  retains  life  in 
portions  of  his  wriggling  body  when  one  part  is  cleft 
entirely  from  the  other. 

General  Custer  was  the  first  among  our  officers  to 
experiment  on  the  rattlesnake  as  an  entree.  A  scout 
told  him  how  fine,  juicy,  and  white  the  meat  was,  and 
straightway  he  tried  it.  The  first  difficulty  was  with 
the  soldier  cook.  He  was  absolutely  devoted  to  Gen- 
eral Custer,  and  not  only  obedient  to  orders,  but  stud- 
ied or  anticipated  what  he  might  wish ;  but  when  his 
chief  took  a  fine  fat  rattlesnake  to  his  cook-tent,  and 
gave  directions  to  serve  it,  the  man,  really  believing 
some  mistake  had  been  made,  ventured  to  reply, "  But 
it's  a  rattlesnake !"  When  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
the  obedient  soldier  accepted  the  situation,  but  was 
sure  that  the  light  of  reason  had  fled  forever  from  his 
chief.  Still,  sure  that  it  was  his  duty  to  serve  a  crazy 
master  as  he  would  a  sane  one,  he  prepared  the  dish 
that  had  been  ordered.  While  General  Custer  was  eat- 
ing the  meat,  which,  he  said,  separated  from  the  bones 
readily,  and  was  as  white  and  delicate  as  that  of  a 
young  quail,  he  saw  the  distended  eyes  of  the  alarmed 
cook  cautiously  peering  in  through  a  crack  of  the 
20 


306  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

tent,  doubtless  expecting  that  he  would  drop  down  in 
a  fit. 

Once,  when  General  Custer  was  dining  in  ^ew  York 
with  that  epicure  Mr.  Sam  Ward,  the  conversation 
turned  on  rare  dishes,  and  Mr.  Ward,  having  dined  in 
all  countries,  and  being  able  probably  to  give  an  ex- 
pert opinion  on  a  greater  variety  of  food  than  is  known 
to  any  other  gourmet  of  our  day,  offered  it  as  his  be- 
lief that  our  natures  partake  of  the  characteristics  of 
whatever  fish,  flesh,  or  fowl  we  eat.  General  Custer's 
eyes  twinkled  when  he  told  me  that  he  thought  he 
gave  a  poser  when  he  asked  him,  "  What  effect  would 
the  rattlesnake  liave  on  a  fellow?"  Strange  to  say, 
Mr.  Ward  had  never  known  that  these  reptiles  were 
eaten  either  by  Christian  or  savage. 

One  of  our  officers,  to  whom  I  have  before  referred, 
was  terribly  afraid  of  snakes.  When  a  child  one  had 
wrapped  itself  about  his  body,  and  so  unnerved  him 
that  he  never  regained  his  courage.  Every  one  laugh- 
ed at  him,  no  one  lost  an  opportunity  to  tease  him ; 
but,  being  a  fearless  rider,  hunter,  and  fighter,  he  could 
afford  to  endure  the  taunts  of  his  comrades.  He  had 
the  advantage  of  a  record  for  dauntless  courage  to  back 
him. 

Among  our  collection  of  pets  was  a  strange  little 
owl  that  had  been  dug  out  of  a  hole,  where  it  and  the 
rattlesnake  and  prairie-dog  lived  in  a  kind  of  co-oper- 
ative house -keeping.  Naturalists  insist  that  there  is 
no  "  happy-family  "  arrangement  in  this ;  that  the  rat- 
tlesnake is  an  intruder,  and  that  he  returns  hospitality 


RATTLESNAKES    AS    NEIGHBORS.  307 

by  eating  a  young  prairie-dog  for  breakfast  occasion- 
ally. But  the  fact  of  their  living  together  our  soldiers 
proved  over  and  over  again.  The  soldier  who  gave  the 
owl  to  General  Custer  showed  him  this  family  group, 
after  he  had  dug  down  to  the  hole  the  prairie-dog  had 
prepared.  It  was  a  wonder  to  me  how  the  strange 
partnership  came  about.  The  prairie-dog  always  made 
the  home ;  but  whether  tlie  snake  came  in  and  possess- 
ed the  land,  or  why  the  owl  was  rash  enough  to  creep 
into  this  deep  excavation,  were  questions  that  no  one 
had  been  able  to  answer  satisfactorily.  The  owl  which 
we  had  made  a  sound  so  like  the  noise  of  the  rattle- 
snake that  no  one  could  distinguish  between  them. 
The  water-bucket,  as  a  protection  against  the  obtru- 
siveness  of  the  dogs,  had  a  cover  fitted  upon  it.  But 
for  this  precaution  not  a  drop  of  water  would  have  been 
left  for  the  toilet.  As  there  was  no  box  convenient,  the 
owl  was  placed  in  the  empty  bucket.  A  favorite  trick 
was  purposely  to  occupy  every  seat,  the  bed  and  chairs, 
etc.,  as  the  officer  who  so  hated  snakes  approached  the 
tent.  Then  he  was  welcomed  effusively,  which  alone 
ought  to  have  warned  him  of  mischief.  The  bucket 
being  the  only  seat  vacant,  and  ho  not  knowing  of  this 
trick  of  the  owl,  of  course  took  it ;  but  the  way  in 
which  he  bounded  into  space  when  the  disturbed  little 
bird  began  to  make  the  sound  of  the  snake  called  forth 
shrieks  of  laughter.  He  was  one  of  the  athletes  of  the 
regiment,  and  the  involuntary  leap  into  the  air  was 
far  better  jumping  than  he  did  when  he  tried  to  ac- 
complish some  competitive  feat  at  our  famous  trials 


308  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

of  agility,  strength,  and  speed  at  Fonrtli-of-July  and 
other  holiday  celebrations,  in  which  most  of  the  officers 
joined. 

But  all  this  continual  joking  was  drawing  to  a  close ; 
for  though  in  winter- quarters  the  merriment  contin- 
ues, there  is  a  degree  of  privacy  attainable  when  one 
has  walls  to  one's  house,  while  in  camp  there  is  none. 
Through  the  thin  cotton  walls  of  a  camp  habitation 
men  called  out  to  each  other  very  pointed  remarks 
about  snoring,  or  too  much  "  chinning,"  as  they  said, 
when  they  wanted  to  sleep.  From  the  intimate  com- 
panionship there  was  no  escape,  and  so  the  smallest 
fragment  of  a  joke  was  apt  to  be  worked  up  into  some- 
thing really  amusing. 

We  could  not  but  regret,  when  October  came,  that 
our  happy  summer  was  coming  to  an  end ;  it  had  been 
such  a  peaceful  time  for  our  tired-out  regiment.  It  is 
true  the  Indians  had  hovered  round  us  to  threaten,  but 
they  belonged  to  another  department  north ;  the  south- 
ern tribes  were  only  too  glad  to  stay  at  home  that  year 
after  their  severe  whipping  the  winter  before.  The 
plains  were  dear  to  us  because  of  the  happy  hours 
spent  there.  Sometimes  we  sighed  for  hills,  and  occa- 
sionally for  rocks,  but  our  next  thought  was  one  of  grat- 
itude that  the  monotonous  surface  prevented  us  from 
being  reminded  by  quack  advertisements  that  we  had 
livers.  Indeed,  out  there,  with  the  pure  air  and  active 
life,  we  might  be  obliged  to  admit  that  we  had  the  or- 
gan for  the  cure  of  which  a  nostrum  was  recommend- 
ed, but  it  was  a  silent  partner.     Every  one  was  well, 


RATTLESNAKES   AS   NEIGHBORS.  309 

except  when  ill  in  consequence  of  some  actual  trifling 
with  splendid  health.  The  orioles  that  sang  in  the  trees 
above  our  tents  were  not  more  contented  than  we.  It 
was  absolutely  a  trial  to  pack  and  start  for  garrison  at 
Fort  Leavenworth,  where  we  must  abandon  our  un- 
conventional life,  dress  for  dinner,  struggle  with  back 
hair,  and  try  to  get  our  complexions  into  condition 
again. 

Some  of  our  officers  had  one  bright  outlook — they 
would  at  last  have  quarters  for  their  families,  and  could 
begin  domestic  life  again.  The  men  with  sweethearts 
were  going  home  on  leave.  The  fathers  talked  of  their 
children,  and  wondered  if  they  would  recognize  the 
bronzed  and  bearded  "paternal."  "We  heard  the  oft- 
repeated  tales  of  their  brightness,  and  even  now,  think- 
ing over  those  youngsters,  they  seem  to  have  been  very 
clever  and  precocious.  Two  tiny  little  urchins  were 
fighters  from  the  start.  Coming  into  the  world  with 
their  fists  doubled  up,  they  kept  them  closed  most  of 
the  time  when  circumstances  threw  them  with  each 
other.  The  officers,  in  a  spirit  of  mischief,  incited  the 
elder  to  "go  for"  the  younger.  They  were  too  young 
to  do  each  other  harm.  I  can  now  see  Davie  coming 
down  in  front  of  the  quarters,  his  legs  full  of  swagger, 
his  tiny  face  red  with  rage.  Jumping  on  my  godson, 
George  Yates,  he  pounded  and  pommelled  the  two-year- 
and-a-half  boy  for  a  few  brief  moments ;  but  the  smaller 
of  the  two  rolling  uppermost,  kept  the  top  place,  and 
returned  the  civilities  offered.  Then  the  young  offi- 
cers— who,  not  being  fathers,  did  not  look  upon  this  fisti- 


310  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

cuff  as  serious — applauded  the  winner.  The  under  boy 
in  the  fight  crawled  out,  and  while  he  ran  bawling  to  his 
mother  this  little  son  of  a  very  brave  father  shrieked 
threateningly,  in  the  borrowed  language  of  the  fron- 
tiersman, "  Got  a  pistol  in  my  boot !"  His  little  fat  legs 
with  *' low -necked  stockings"  (as  another  bright  dot 
dubbed  his  socks)  and  the  small  kid  shoes  looked  any- 
thing but  warlike.  This  same  George,  when  he  went 
into  the  States,  and  was  teased  by  the  children,  knew  no 
better  threat  in  retaliation  than  to  say,  **  I'll  put  you 
in  the  guard-house,  I  will,"  which  was  Choctaw  to  the 
civilian  children,  as  they  did  not  know  a  prison  was 
ever  called  a  guard-house. 

The  son  of  one  of  my  friends  came  in  to  his  mother 
one  day,  and  said  that  he  had  been  beaten  and  kicked 
by  another  boy.  "  Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do 
about  it ?"  said  his  military  mother;  "  you  are  not  going 
to  let  him  get  the  better  of  you,  are  you  ?"  The  little 
son,  possibly  six  years  old,  not  more,  replied,  energet- 
ically, "No,  you  bet  I'm  not."  "  Well,  then,  after  sup- 
per go  out  and  find  him,  and  I  don't  expect  you  to 
come  in  with  any  story  of  being  worsted  in  this  af- 
fair." 

All  this  had  gone  from  the  mother's  mind  until  after 
dinner,  when,  without  explanation,  he  came  to  her 
again,  and  asked  if  he  should  change  his  clothes. 
"  Why  ?"  she  queried.  "  Because  these  might  get  all 
bloody;"  and  then  she  remembered  that  it  was  the 
time  appointed  for  the  thrashing  of  his  tormentor. 

One  of  the  officers,  in  pride  over  his  four-year-old, 


RATTLESNAKES   AS   NEIGHBORS.  311, 

gave  me  a  description  of  the  tales  of  the  war  his  son 
demanded.  He  had  repeated  and  repeated  the  same 
stories  time  and  time  again,  not  being  permitted  a  varia- 
tion by  the  exacting  child,  who  knew  them  all  by  heart. 
He  said :  "  The  story  is  a  little  rough  on  me ;  but  if  any 
one  knows  a  child,  he  knows  that  he  wants  a  plentiful 
sprinkling  of  I's,  and  nothing  told  in  the  third  person. 
So  I  kept  on  as  he  demanded,  until  one  day  he  looked 
up  in  my  face  and  said,  ^  And,  father,  couldn't  you  get 
any  one  to  help  you  put  down  the  rebellion  V  "  Instead 
of  tiring  of  the  cunning  speeches  of  the  little  fel- 
lows, we  usually  asked,  as  each  officer  received  a  let- 
ter, "  Well,  what  has  '  Guy,'  or  '  Davie,'  or  '  George,'  or 
'  Freddie '  been  getting  off  now  ?"  And  then  the  mis- 
sives that  devoted  husbands  carried  in  their  inside 
pockets  were  brought  out,  and  some  clever  speech  of 
the  child,  written  by  the  fond  mother,  was  read  aloud 
to  us. 

Before  "  Taps"  sounds  I  must  not  neglect  to  explain 
one  of  the  calls  that  fortunately  is  rarely  used.  It  is 
the  "  Kogue's  March :" 

"Poor  old  soldier,  poor  old  soldier, 
Tarred  and  feathered  and  sent  to " — 

something  that  rhymes  with 

"Because  be  would  not  soldier  well." 

Court-martial  is  the  usual  mode  of  settling  all  irreg- 
ularities, and  sentence  is  pronounced,  such  as  imprison- 
ment, loss  of  pay,  reducing  a  non-commissioned  officer 


312  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

to  the  ranks,  etc.  Sometimes,  however^  the  soldier  is 
so  absolutely  incorrigible  and  worthless  that  he  is  sen- 
tenced to  lose  his  hair,  and  is  drummed  out  of  camp. 
While  I  was  at  Leavenworth  I  saw  the  execution  of 
this  order.  The  soldier's  head  was  as  blue  and  bald  as 
close  shaving  could  make  it,  and  he  marched  bareheaded 
in  front  of  a  corps  of  drummers  and  fifers  before  the 
garrison  assembled  for  parade.  I  should  like  to  say 
that  he  hung  his  head  in  shame,  but  the  truth  is  the 
audacious  fellow,  when  at  the  limits  of  the  garrison, 
leaped  into  a  carriage  at  the  hack  stand,  pulled  on  a 
wig,  and  waved  a  hat,  which  his  waiting  friend  handed 
him,  as  he  drove  out  of  his  military  life  into  that  of  a 
civilian. 

Occasionally  the  soldiers  of  a  company  rise  in  wrath 
over  the  obstinate  determination  of  a  soldier  not  to  be 
clean,  and  ask  leave  to  punish  him  themselves.  When 
men  ask  permission,  and  the  better  men  too,  the  offi- 
cers know  that  they  will  not  carry  the  affair  too  far. 
A  double  line  of  men  is  formed  to  the  stream,  each  one 
having  a  switch.  The  offender  is  prepared  for  his 
compulsory  bath,  and  started  down  the  line.  It  is  an 
effectual  cure  for  the  slovenly.  He  returns  clean,  and 
convinced  that  it  is  best  to  keep  so. 

But  soldiers,  clean  or  otherwise,  camp  women,  offi- 
cers and  their  wives,  the  dogs,  the  pets,  and  even  the  in- 
telligent horses,  soon  were  in  a  tremor  of  excitement,  for 
orders  had  come  to  break  camp,  and  march  to  Leaven- 
worth for  the  winter.  Preparations  went  steadily  on.  In 
a  few  hours  we  were  packed.     The  wagons  were  drawn 


RATTLESNAKES    AS   NEIGHBORS.  313 

up  ready  for  the  tents,  and  those  the  soldiers  took  down 
and  stored  away  for  the  march.  I  sat  at  some  distance 
from  the  row  of  tents,  awaiting  the  bugle-call,  "  Boots 
and  Saddles,"  while  the  eager  and  excited  dogs  raced 
hither  and  thither  among  the  troopers,  and  the  horses 
neighed  and  sniffed  the  fresh  air.  Looking  back  upon 
a  deserted  camp  is  not  cheerful :  the  grass  where  the 
tents  have  stood  is  trampled,  the  trenches  dug  about 
them  to  let  the  water  run  off  from  the  tent  cut  the 
ground  into  squares  ;  hay  and  rubbish  are  strewn  where 
once  it  was  so  trim.  Our  little  arbor  in  the  tree  looked 
lonely  enough,  and  the  heap  of  stones  which  had  form- 
ed the  foundation  was  bare  and  forlorn.  The  noises 
that  had  disturbed  me  all  summer  under  these  rocks 
were  now  about  to  be  explained.  I  had  attributed 
them  to  rats,  to  weasels,  and,  as  the  night  advanced 
and  fears  increased,  to  almost  supernatural  causes,  the 
sounds  w^ere  so  uncanny ;  but  no,  it  was  only  that  a 
family,  seeing  something  of  domestic  life  above  the 
floor,  and  being  satisfied  therewith,  had  established  a 
hearth-stone  of  their  own  below ;  but  when  the  floor 
was  removed,  and  daylight,  with  prospective  storms,  let 
in,  a  procession,  consisting  of  a  mother  and  seven  little 
soft- furred  children,  walked  out  from  underneath,  to 
seek  other  quarters.  How  it  happened  that  Mrs.  Pole- 
cat and  her  progeny  had  not  been  discovered  by  our 
dogs  remains  a  mystery.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  no 
one  disturbed  them,  or  failed  to  give  them  permission 
to  do  as  they  wished,  and  one  triumphant  woman  said : 
"  There !  what  did  I  tell  you  all  the  time  ?     There  was 


31^  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

something  gnawing,  rooting,  squirming  under  our  tent 
all  summer."     That  was  I. 

The  officers  who  served  with  us  that  summer  have 
had  their  service  chronicled  by  a  government  that  keeps 
records  of  brave  men,  but  the  courageous  Eliza  and  the 
faithful  Henry  ought  to  have  a  word.  Eliza  still  looks 
as  young  as  when  we  ate  her  good  dinners  on  Big  Creek, 
and  though  the  wife  of  a  colored  lawyer  in  Ohio,  she 
refers  to  our  life  out  there  as  among  her  happiest 
hours.  Henry  is  janitor  in  one  of  the  public  schools 
of  Topeka,  and  I  hear  that  his  big,  tender  heart  is  open 
still  to  even  the  smallest  child,  for  if  he  sees  one  run- 
ning down  the  street  as  the  bell  rings,  and  knows  that 
he  or  she  is  likely  to  be  marked  late,  he  keeps  on  ring- 
ing till  the  delinquent  has  reached  the  door.  He  final- 
ly married  his  "  Mandy,"  but  the  following  account  of 
his  love  passages  with  Eliza  I  venture  to  insert,  to  prove 
that  Big  Creek  had  a  romance  that  summer,  though 
neither  the  stream  nor  the  romance  "ran  smooth": 

"  Miss  Libbie,  me  and  Eliza  was  mighty  fond  of  each 
other,  and  off  and  on  we  was  sparking  ;  but  I  couldn't 
say  as  we  was  always  happy.  When  she  went  off  down 
to  Leavenworth  that  time,  I  begun  to  hear  things  she 
liad  said  'gainst  me,  and  I  got  mad.  The  more  I 
thought  about  it  the  madder  I  got.  I  concluded  I'd 
go  and  kill  her.  I  took  an  ole  pistol  of  the  ginnel's, 
and  set  to  work  to  oil  it,  and  get  the  rust  off.  It  took 
nie  a  right  smart  time;  but  I  didn't  get  no  ways  cool 
a-doin'  it.  Then  I  says  to  Bishop  "  (the  general's  soldier), 
"off-hand  like,  would  he  take  keer  of  my  horses.     He 


RATTLESNAKES    AS   NEIGHBORS.  El5' 

said  yes,  and  I  started.  Wlien  I  got  to  Fort  Harker 
I  heerd  more  of  Eliza's  stories,  and  I  biled  riglit  over. 
On  the  wa^  down  I  heerd  more  and  more,  and  when  I 
reached  the  city  of  Leavenworth,  thar  I  saw  some  col- 
ored folks  we  both  knew,  and  such  a  pack  of  lies  as 
she  had  told  made  me  jest  jumpin'  mad  again.  I  went 
on  out  to  whar  she  was  staying,  bound  I'd  kill  her,  and, 
Miss  Libbie,  if  you'd  believe  it,  the  minute  I  sot  eyes 
on  her  I  forgot  it  all.  I  jest  melted  right  down ;  but 
pretty  soon  I  fired  up  again,  and  I  says,  '  Miss  Eliza 
Brown,  I've  cum  pretty  nigh  onto  two  hundred  miles 
purpose  for  to  kill  you.'  She  flared  up,  and  asked, 
'  Why  V  Then  I  tole  her;  but.  Miss  Libbie,  you  know 
how  'tis,  I  forgot  again,  and  then  we  kissed  and  we  fought 
and  we  loved  and  we  fought  and  we  loved  and  we  kissed, 
and  I  jest  put  up  the  ol'  horse-pistol  for  keeps." 

Eliza  and  Henry  never  married.  This  may  be  explain- 
ed on  Henry's  side  by  that  old  Virginia  story  of  a  colored 
swain  who  said,  "Miss  Loisa  Cheers,  I  love  you  a  heap, 
but  I  don't  love  you  to  marry."  On  Eliza's  part  it  was 
possibly  a  case  of  "  were  t'other  dear  charmer  away." 

As  the  bugles  sent  out  the  last  notes  of  "Boots  and 
Saddles,"  we  guided  our  horses  out  of  the  bend  that 
had  sheltered  us,  and  nearly  drowned  us  besides,  and 
looking  back  to  the  bit  of  land  almost  surrounded  with 
trees,  we  felt  as  Henry  did  towards  his  Eliza — with  all 
its  faults  we  loved  it  still.  We  joined  with  tlie  band 
in  the  regimental  song,  of  return  and  many  a  brave 
heart  leaped  with  joy  and  said,  silently^  "  Soon  I  shall 
be  with  the  girl  I  left  behind  me." 


316  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 


THE  GIRL   I  LEFT  BEHIND  ME. 

The  hour  was  sad  I  left  the  maid, 

A  ling'ring  farewell  taking  ; 
Her  sighs  and  tears  my  steps  delay'd — 

I  thought  her  heart  was  breaking. 
In  hurried  words  her  name  I  bless'd, 

I  breathed  the  vows  that  bind  me, 
And  to  my  heart  in  anguish  press'd 

The  girl  I  left  behind  me. 

Then  to  the  East  we  bore  away. 

To  win  a  name  in  story, 
And  there,  where  dawns  the  sun  of  day. 

There  dawn'd  our  sun  of  glory : 
Both  blaz'd  in  noon  on  Alma's  height, 

When  in  the  post  assign'd  me 
I  shar'd  the  glory  of  that  fight. 

Sweet  girl  I  left  behind  me. 

Full  many  a  name  our  banners  bore 

Of  former  deeds  of  daring, 
But  they  were  of  the  days  of  yore, 

In  which  we  had  no  sharing ; 
But  now  our  laurels  freshly  won 

With  the  old  ones  shall  entwin'd  be. 
Still  worthy  of  our  sires  each  son, 

Sweet  girl  I  left  behind  me. 

The  hope  of  final  victory 

Within  my  bosom  burning, 
Is  mingling  with  sweet  thoughts  of  thee 

And  of  my  fond  returning. 
But  should  I  ne'er  return  again, 

Still  worth  thy  love  thou'lt  find  me ; 
Dishonor's  breath  shall  never  stain 

The  name  I'll  leave  behind  me. 


THE   GIRL   I   LEFT   BEHIND   ME. 


817 


Zbc  (31rl  ir  Xeft  3Bebfn&  /ifte. 


Moderato. 


^ 


^ 


jr^ 


i=i=-? 


W^ 


§^^i 


^t^^^^ 


&^-«= 


V — 


^— • 


s:^ 


The 


^^rq^z_'r==U=FS^ 


^?=# 


:-:^: 


hour  was  sad      I      left    the  maid,  A    ling'ring  fare-well 


4* 


ii=it:=:if 


^^^ 


5:^    :? 


§£i 


— * 


318 


FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 


?E^'^^^EfczfetziEi^E^=iJ=H3i-td 


tak-ing:   Her  sighs  and  tears   my  steps  de  -  lay'd —    I 


P-Ei=^i-. 


■*-  « 


|S|f__« 


3=1:4 


3Hf 


iv5: 


I 


g!iES-^=!; 


-uj 


-« — ii- 


■• — o- 


i^HEE 


( 


[^ 


iiir-ried  words  her 


thought  her  heart  was  break-ing.       In    liiir-ried  words  her 


mimiMmi 


p     — 

r 


^-5^^ 


i5r:= 


:&^ 


JTZZeZfZ 


name  I  bless'd,    I  breath'd  the  vows  that  bind     me,    And 


i^|iE?E3=; 


ilEi 


THE    GIRL    I   LEFT   BEHIND   ME. 


319 


raU. 


tempo. 


to     my  heart  in     an-guish  press'd  The  girl  1    left  be- 


^^ 


;^=i= 


•~~-^ — * 


:1^^ 


I 


m4=^=^^^ 


« ^*  ^    i. 


-?    '*'    -^     ^    *  ♦ 


^5=: 


1^-3^ 


;f^3ES 


■' — ^-»-J-. — K- 


hind  me. 


Then  to      the  East    we 


^^i^^^^il=r^ 


w^ 


i=i=s 


i^&^Mp^r^iii 


^ipli^^^ig^^ 


bore  a  -  way,    To    win    a     name  in      sto  -   ry,     And 


ij=i|z=:^^=blizz=ijzi:£: 


320 


FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 


con  spirito.^ 


0^0- 


^^^=^] 


there,  where  dawns  the  sun  of  day,   There  dawn'd  our  sun  of 


:^H^^— ^ — ^^^?- 


■5^=. 


m^ 


^^ ^s_ S  ^ 


con  exuUazione. 

^ ^  _    i 


V— 


'9.~ 


glo  -    ry  :  Bothblaz'd  in  noon  on    Al  -  ma's  height.  When 


^^^ 


-^-± 


V — ^ 


3ee; 


— I- 


=kz-i^ 


i^iggiaig 


in    the  post  as  -  sign'd   me     I       shar'd  the    glo 


-^=^ 


-t—t 


i 


fcit^ 


;PH5 


THE   GIRL    I    LEFT   BEHIND  ^lE. 


321 


con  tenerezza. 


i^^^3^^?^^ 


m^^ 


of . . .  that  fight,  Sweet  girl     I      left    be  -  hind    me. 


i^l; 


:*; 


s=sla^ 


i 


The   hope  of       fi  -    nal  vie  -  to-ry  With- 


^— ?-e^- 


~^- 


;03^i^ 


^& 


Full  man-y  a  name  our  banners  bore  Of 

Mi    ««i  I r-^^ '^^ rH ^ 1 


^- 


Pli 


|v5: 


5=: 


in    my   bo  -  som    burn-ing, 


h 


fg^l 


Is      mingling  with  sweet 


t^E^ 


zmtziilizzit 
for  -  mer  deeds  of      dar  -  ing,      But  they  were  of    the 


-#■-#•  ^    -#■     -•• 


■^=t^= 


I — V 


J^ES^ 


h« «- 


21 


322. 


FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 


thoughts  of  thee    And    of       my  fond  re  -  turn  -  ing.     But 


;^- 


:^ 


-^=^^^ 


-=Si 


-ia — h 


=^^^^ 


days  of    yore,     In    which  we  had  no  shar  -  ing;    But 


'^^. 


=H-: 


t^- 


:5  I**- 


—7 — =^-7— =^-y- 


^^-- 


-H^^ 


g 


:2z=r.zz5: 


P=^ 


should  I  ne'er  re-turn    a  -  gain,  Still  worth  thy  love  thou'lt 


now,  our  lau-rels  fresh-ly  won  With  the  old  ones  shall  en- 


-f r- 


-M-- 


( 


find     me;     Dis  -  hon-  or's  breath  shall  never  stain    The 

• 2 • 


;Bi 


twin'd  be,     Still  wor  -  thy    of    our  sires  each  son.  Sweet 


?«.»■* 


m 


m^ 


^ 


&='^i 


f^-ir 


--S- 2r 


r=53=3; 


THE    GIRL    I    LEFT   BEHIND    ME. 

name  I'll  leave  behind  me. 


323 


::^ 


s:3332 


it±tjL 


iiy 


girl      1    left  be-hind   me. 


-^- 


mT^I  I  -  5  r    r    *  » 


Pl=: 


.^__^_^. 

f 


mm\ 


^aps,"  or  BjtinguiBb  Xigbte. 


:1-^-,^— z&z: 

^>       -*              -f                 ^         - 

^       •            N 

H-                    -11—      ^ 

-C^-*^ *-T # 

-^           '    •-    "i    : 

^   -    •       ^3 

Love,    good      night,        must      thou 


go, 


When      the 


t-=.—t===.^=i 


day         and    the       night     need    thee        so  ? 


All 


:t: 


3: 


-# — 


i^zLi:: 


:t: 


11 


well;       Speed  -  eth 


all 


to 


their      rest. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

DANDY. 

There  is  still  one  character  in  my  story  of  our  sum- 
mer camp  who  deserves  a  word,  as,  since  the  last  chap- 
ter was  written,  he  has  gone  to  the  heaven  which  we 
people  who  love  animals  believe  is  reserved  for  them. 
It  is  of  our  blithe,  faithful,  undaunted  Dandy  that  I 
should  like  to  tell  you. 

During  the  Wichita  campaign  in  Kansas  and  the 
Indian  Territory,  in  the  winter  of  1868  and  1869,  five 
hundred  horses  were  sent  to  the  Seventh  Cavalry  to 
mount  a  portion  of  the  regiment.  General  Custer  was 
in  command  of  the  expedition,  and  the  horses  were 
passed  in  review  in  front  of  his  tent.  Among  them 
he  noticed  a  spirited  bay,  which  he  ordered  detained  at 
his  tent,  and,  after  trying  him,  decided  that  he  would 
avail  himself  of  the  privilege  given  to  ofiicers,  and  buy 
him  from  the  Government.  The  horse,  he  discovered, 
had  good  blood,  though   not  perfectly  proportioned, 


DANDY. 


325 


being  too  small.  He  was  just  within  the  height  re- 
quired by  the  quartermaster's  requisition ;  but  his  fire, 
his  promising  powers  of  endurance,  his  sound  condi- 
tion, made  General  Custer  think  that  he  would  prove 
equal  to  the  terrible  marches,  the  exposure,  and  the  in- 
sufficient forage  to  which  a  cavalry  horse  had  to  submit. 
He  was  given  the  name  of  "  Dandy  "  on  the  spot, 
because  of  his  spirited  manner,  and  the  little  proud 
peacock  airs  he  never  forgot  except  when  he  slept. 


DANDY. 


Dandy  had  not  been  long  in  service  before  he  was  sub- 
jected to  the  roughest  and  hardest  life.  The  soldiers' 
rations  gave  out  at  one  time,  and  the  troops  lived  on  the 
flesh  of  mules  and  horses  that  had  died  from  exhaustion. 
But  Dandy's  untiring  nerve  carried  him  through.     He 


826  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

grew  thill  from  want  of  forage,  but  learned,  with  the 
other  horses,  to  scrape  the  snow  from  the  ground  in  the 
river  valleys,  to  find  little  tufts  of  dried  grass,  and,  fail- 
ing in  this,  gnawed  the  bark  from  the  cottonwood-trees. 
Nothing  seemed  to  tire  him  :  no  day  was  so  cold  or  so 
wet  that  it  did  not  find  Dandy  full  of  good  cheer. 

Test  after  test  was  tried  on  the  plucky  horse,  and  he 
never  flagged.  An  all  day's  march  in  the  winter,  with 
the  blinding  snow  and  tiny  particles  of  ice  cutting  his 
face,  toiling  through  depressions  in  the  ground  where 
drifts  had  accumulated,  tugging  up  declivities  to  be 
met  on  the  summit  with  a  keen  icy  wind  that  had 
swept  unchecked  over  hundreds  of  miles  of  prairie — 
all  this  never  took  the  dance  out  of  his  heels,  or  made 
his  head  droop  with  fatigue.  It  was  this  indomitable 
will  that  so  endeared  him  to  his  master.  He  had  a  hard 
gait  for  a  steady  march.  He  never  walked,  but  went 
on,  year  in  and  year  out,  with  a  little  dancing  trot  that 
was  most  fatiguing.  Still,  this  uncomfortable  motion 
was  made  up  for  to  General  Custer  by  marvellous  pow- 
ers of  endurance  and  by  exceeding  good-humor  through 
all  vicissitudes. 

Our  horses  were  such  intimate  companions  on  the 
plains  that  we  found  ourselves  as  anxious  to  be  en  rap- 
port with  them,  and  understand  their  humor,  as  with 
those  of  our  friends  beside  whom  we  rode.  Sometimes 
we  divined  as  soon  as  we  mounted  that  the  animal  under 
us  was  sulky  or  wilful  or  stubborn,  and  either  we  pos- 
sessed our  souls  in  patience  till  the  ill -humor  passed 
away,  or  one,  more  irritable  or  nervous,  fretted  at  the 


DANDY.  327 

exhibition  of  temper,  took  his  horse  out  of  the  ranks, 
and  the  rest,  watching  him,  said,  "Now  So-and-so  is 
going  to  have  another  ^  waltz '  with  that  brute  of  his, 
but  it's  no  good  fighting  anything  so  fiendish."  One 
can  realize,  then,  what  it  was  to  know  that  there  was 
no  variation  in  the  temper  of  an  animal.  Imagine  any 
one  awakening  in  the  gray  dawn  to  the  sound  of  reveille 
in  a  cavalry  camp,  and,  after  an  ice-cold  bath,  a  luke- 
warm breakfast,  stepping  shrinkingly  forth  into  chilly 
drizzle  that  the  troopers  declared  had  "  come  to  stay." 
What  if  all  about  were  silent,  or  dulled  by  the  cold 
and  damp  ?  Was  it  not  everything  to  be  met  by  the 
dancing,  joyous  motion  of  a  pair  of  nimble  heels,  and  the 
softest,  most  affectionate  eyes,  while  the  head  turned  to 
rub  itself  against  the  arm  or  shoulder  of  one  the  animal 
loved?  Let  the  elements  do  their  worst  —  and  they 
attempt  every  vagary  on  the  plains — that  indomitable 
will  and  sunshiny  disposition  of  Dandy's  triumphed 
over  everything.  It  was  therefore  worth  while  to 
endure  the  little  choppy  motion,  which  would  have 
been  immensely  tiresome  to  many,  for  the  sake  of 
knowing  that  no  day's  march  could  be  so  long,  no 
storm  so  violent,  as  either  to  fatigue  or  depress  the 
willing  animal.  There  were  those  who  said  that  no 
man,  except  one  with  the  wonderful  powers  of  endur- 
ance of  General  Custer,  could  have  stood  the  gait. 

One  of  our  best  riders  used  to  say  that  there  was  no 
worse  suffering  for  a  man  than  to  ride  a  horse  that  re- 
fused to  come  down  to  a  walk.  Occasionally  it  fell  to 
the  lot  of  a  soldier  to  draw  from  the  Government  a 


328  FOLLOWING    THE    GUIDON. 

horse  that  had  this  fault.  There  was  no  appeal.  The 
horse  was  purchased ;  he  was  sound.  No  horse-trade 
could  be  effected  with  a  citizen,  because  of  the  deep 
"U.S."  branded  on  the  thigh.  Sometimes,  after  a 
campaign,  an  officer  can  enter  a  complaint,  and  ask 
to  turn  in  some  brute  with  an  irredeemable  fault  to 
the  Quartermaster's  Department,  to  be  condemned  and 
sold ;  but  after  a  campaign  was  started,  it  meant  a 
whole  season  of  jogging  misery  to  the  unfortunate 
trooper  who  had  fallen  heir  to  such  an  animal.  A 
cavalry  column  marches  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an 
hour,  and  the  length  of  a  day's  journey  varies  from 
twenty-five  to  forty  miles.  After  such  torture  going 
on  month  after  month,  the  troopers  would  sometimes 
cry  out  in  desperation,  "  For  God's  sake  shoot  me,  and 
leave  me  behind !" 

It  was  well  that  Dandy  belonged  to  the  command- 
ing officer  of  his  regiment,  for  he  could  brook  no 
horses  going  before  him.  If  it  was  unavoidable,  he 
was  flecked  with  foam  and  quivering  with  impatience 
in  a  few  moments.  It  was  difficult  to  keep  him  be- 
side a  horse ;  he  champed  his  bit,  tossed  his  head,  and 
pulled  furiously  on  the  rein  unless  he  was  permitted 
to  stretch  his  neck  in  advance  of  everything.  Then 
he  became  quiet  with  conquest,  and  ambled  on  like  a 
graceful  Andalusian  palfrey. 

'No  greater  test  of  Dandy's  endurance  could  have 
occurred  than  a  winter's  campaign.  It  was  the  first 
that  the  regiment  had  ever  attempted  at  that  season  of 
the  year.     The  success  of  the  expedition  reconciled 


DANDY.  329 

the  men  to  the  hardships ;  but  it  was  a  fearful  trial  to 
the  whole  regiment,  man  and  beast.  After  the  win- 
ter was  ended,  the  Seventh  Cavalry  marched  from  the 
Indian  Territory  to  Fort  Hays,  Kansas,  to  establish  a 
summer  camp.  Tlie  regiment,  from  that  on,  went  up 
and  down  tlie  State,  as  well  as  the  adjoining  Territories, 
for  several  seasons.  On  one  of  these  marches,  a  num- 
ber of  years  after,  when  they  were  traversing  a  more 
settled  portion  of  the  State,  a  farmer  met,  and  was 
about  to  pass,  the  column,  when  General  Custer  accost- 
ed him,  asking  him  about  the  crops,  the  ravages  of  the 
grasshoppers,  then  such  a  pest,  and  of  the  growth  of 
the  country,  in  which  he  was  genuinely  interested. 
The  farmer  turned  to  ride  with  him  a  while,  and  finally, 
after  eying  Dandy  sharply,  he  said  : 

"  Stranger,  I'd  like  to  en-quire,  if  it  ain't  no  offence, 
where  you  got  your  boss  ?   It's  a  good  un,  no  mistake." 

"You  are  right,"  replied  the  general.  "He  is  as 
tough  as  a  pine-knot,  as  willing  and  spirited  as  any 
horse  I  ever  saw."  And  then  he  went  on  to  tell  him 
that  he  thought  that  he  discovered  some  of  these  traits 
when  he  picked  him  out  of  hundreds  of  animals  bought 
by  the  quartermaster  for  the  regiment. 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  frontiersman,  "that  air  boss 
once  belonged  to  me.  He's  got  good  blood  in  him. 
I've  got  the  name  of  some  of  his  sires  at  home.  I  can 
never  get  over  the  selling  of  him ;  but,  you  see,  I  got 
hard  up,  the  grasshoppers  ate  my  crops,  and,  while  I  was 
in  a  tight  place,  along  cum  a  contractor,  and  I  sold  him 
for  $140,  the  Government  price.    He  was  wuth  a  heap 


330  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

eight  more ;  but  the  ready  money  had  to  be  got  some- 
how, so  I  let  him  go." 

All  General  Custer  could  say  was  that  he  was  sorry 
that  he  had  lost  him,  but  that  hardly  any  price  could 
tempt  him  to  part  with  so  good  a  campaigner.  He  was 
then  five  years  old. 

Dandy  became  a  great  pet  with  his  master.  It  was 
a  serious  affair  to  lose  a  horse  on  the  march,  for  they 
could  not  be  replaced,  and  consequently  the  utmost 
precautions  were  taken  to  lariat  or  hobble  the  animals 
when  the  march  was  over  for  the  day. 

Dandy  was  often  not  tethered  at  all.  As  soon  as 
the  general  selected  camp  he  unsaddled  and  unbridled 
him,  and  turned  him  loose  to  graze  until  the  command 
came  up  to  pitch  the  tents.  He  took  a  roll  or  so  on 
the  grass,  and  grazed  about  the  tent  until  it  was  time 
to  saddle  him  next  morning  for  the  day's  march.  He 
loved  the  dogs,  and  permitted  all  sorts  of  familiari- 
ties from  them.  Sometimes  the  stag-hounds,  that  make 
such  tremendous  leaps,  would  spring  entirely  over  him 
in  their  antics.  He  played  with  them,  nipping  their 
skin  to  provoke  a  frolic,  and  no  unexpected  attack  of 
the  venturesome  dogs  was  ever  met  by  him  with  any- 
thing but  the  utmost  good-nature.  He  was  a  picture 
in  the  midst  of  the  pack  of  forty,  all  barking,  growling, 
scuffling.  The  grave  fox-hounds  pressed  about  his  legs 
in  affection,  looking  up  with  luminous,  expressive  eyes. 
The  stag-hounds  made  wild  springs  in  the  air,  catching 
his  mane  or  tail,  or  jumping  to  kiss  his  nose.  He  tossed 
his  head,  snorted,  pranced  with  delight  at  all  this  atten- 


DANDY.  331 

tion,  set  his  feet  dowu  with  excessive  caution  for  fear 
of  hurting  a  puppj,  and  was  capable  of  showing  more 
affection  in  the  few  mute  ways  left  open  to  him  than 
people  who  have  the  human  voice  and  expressive  feat- 
ures at  their  disposal. 

The  soldier  who  took  care  of  him  was  the  strangest 
contrast  to  the  whole  party — dashing  cavalryman,  met- 
tlesome horse,  and  rollicking  dogs.  Indeed,  he  seemed 
BO  much  out  of  place  in  a  cavalry  camp  that  I  wanted  al- 
ways to  ticket  him  "Lost,  strayed,  or  stolen."  He  was 
slow  of  speech,  thought,  and  movement,  but  in  affec- 
tionate fidelity  he  was  to  be  trusted  even  above  the  gayer 
and  more  active  trooper.  The  man  lived  in  a  world  by 
himself,  with  little  in  common  with  his  comrades,  go- 
ing along  a  dull,  beaten  path  at  snail's  pace,  while  all 
the  wild  world  of  a  cavalry  camp,  with  its  incessant  ex- 
citements, its  exhilaration,  its  enthusiasm,  sung,  shouted, 
and  careered  about  him.  Nothing  moved  him  to  a 
laugh ;  and  if  he  had  whistled  I  should  have  sent  for 
the  surgeon,  thinking  he  had  gone  daft.  I  have  a  pho- 
tograph of  him  standing  between  and  holding  with  each 
hand  the  bridle  of  Yic,  the  general's  thorough-bred — 
which  was  shot  in  the  battle  of  the  Little  Big  Horn, 
June  25, 1876 — and  Dandy.  The  dogs  stand  or  lie  about 
the  group ;  and  the  soldier,  with  his  solemn  face,  looks 
as  if  any  remark  England  or  America  might  make 
about  "  duty  "  to  him  would  be  superfluous.  His  hori- 
zon encompassed  two  horses,  some  dogs,  and  one  yel- 
low-haired officer.  He  may  have  had  a  past — a  bald  spot 
on  his  no  longer  youthful  head  spoke  of  one — but  no  ref- 


332  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

erence  was  made  to  it ;  nor  did  he  seem  to  wish  for  a  fut- 
ure in  which  Dandy,  Yic,  Blucher,  Tuck,  and  Cardigan 
(his  favorite  dogs)  and  their  master  were  not  included. 

Dandy  enjoyed  a  hunt  above  everything.  The  gen- 
eral could  run  down  a  deer  with  Yic,  and  for  a  spirited, 
quick  dash  the  thorough-bred  was  best ;  but  Dandy  was 
the  old  love,  and  he  made  such  demonstrations  of  de- 
light over  the  preparations  for  the  chase  that  he  grew 
to  seem  almost  human.  The  officers  generally  gath- 
ered before  our  quarters,  and  the  horn  was  sounded  as 
a  signal  for  the  kennel  gate  to  be  opened.  Out  swooped 
the  pack,  tumbling  over  each  other  in  their  haste,  tear- 
ing around  the  house  to  the  horses  to  have  a  few  pre- 
paratory interchanges  of  animal  language.  The  order- 
lies holding  the  horses  let  them  rear  and  paw  the  earth ; 
and  in  the  din  of  the  barking,  whining  dogs,  tuning 
their  voices  to  the  horn,  the  laughter  and  jovial  voices 
of  the  officers,  the  call  from  the  windows  and  galleries 
of  the  women  giving  a  good  "  send  off,"  there  was  not 
an  intelligible  word.  From  all  this  wild  scramble,  in 
which  dogs,  men,  and  horses  seemed  involved  in  a  hope- 
less tangle,  the  leader  extricated  himself,  and  Dandy 
proudly  took  the  advance.  He  curveted,  danced  side- 
wise,  tossed  his  head  and  mane,  and  evinced  by  every 
motion  that  he  was  born  to  lead. 

Then,  when  the  real  work  began,  he  proved  that  if 
he  was  a  dandy  there  was  good  stuff  in  him  ;  for  he 
fell  to  the  duty  of  the  hour  with  a  skill  and  determina- 
tion that  made  his  master,  each  time  he  returned  from 
the  chase,  pat  his  neck  as  he  leaped  to  the  ground,  and 


DANDY.  333 

say,  "  There  never  was  such  another  horse  created." 
The  cotton-wood  timber  along  the  Missouri  River  was 
in  places  densely  embedded  in  underbrush,  and  it  took 
infinite  patience  to  wend  one's  way  through  the  thicket; 
but  Dandy  was  capital  at  this.  His  nerves  were  in  the 
wildest  state  when  the  deer  was  spotted. 

After  the  day's  sport  was  ended  the  horn  sounded 
from  down  the  valley,  and  soon  the  same  exuberant 
throng  poured  into  the  garrison,  the  dogs  leaping  and 
barking  still,  the  fox-hounds  trotting  sedately  on,  cov- 
ered with  burrs,  porcupine  quills,  or  cactus,  their  legs 
incased  in  mud,  their  rigid  tails  bleeding  from  the 
sharp  thrashing  through  the  thickets ;  still  they  gave 
tongue  with  the  deep  notes  of  their  species.  The 
horses  of  the  hunters  were  usually  fagged  and  glad  to 
hear  stable  -  call ;  but  darting  up  to  the  gallery  came 
the  undaunted  Dandy,  sometimes  bearing  on  his  back, 
behind  the  saddle,  the  game,  though  the  deer  was  gen- 
erally too  large  to  admit  of  using  any  but  a  led-horse 
to  transport  it. 

If  in  our  rides  about  the  post  we  saw  a  gray  coyote 
skulking  along,  hiding  in  the  divides  or  sneaking  his 
solitary  way  back  to  his  lair.  Dandy  spied  him  also,  and 
begged  for  a  run.  He  trembled  with  the  ardor  of  a 
hunter;  and  it  hurt  him  to  see  game  disappear  and  he 
not  chase  it.  He  knew  how  to  gather  himself  and  turn 
like  a  flash  when  the  jack-rabbit  "  put  down  its  fourth 
leg"  and  doubled  on  its  pursuers.  It  required  such 
agile  legs  as  Dandy's  to  circumvent  the  active  hare. 
His  lope  was  too  short  to  take  him  over  the  country 


334:  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

quickly  enough  to  overtake  an  antelope,  but  he  could  be 
almost  motionless  for  the  moment  of  loading  and  firing. 

In  another  chapter  of  this  book  I  have  described 
Dandy's  skill  and  enthusiasm  in  buffalo-hunting,  and 
need  not  repeat  it  here. 

There  were  many  obstructions  to  smooth  going  even 
on  the  apparently  level  plains.  The  buffalo  wallow 
was  one.  Dandy,  coming  on  these  wallows  full  tilt, 
learned,  if  he  was  going  too  violently,  to  veer  one  side, 
to  leap  in  and  out  like  a  cat.  The  buffalo  trails  to 
water,  running  in  four  or  more  parallel  lines,  he  cleared 
with  a  bound.  These  also  are  deep  ruts,  hard  and  stub- 
born to  the  hoof,  that  have  been  baked  by  the  sun  as 
is  the  wallow.  He  picked  his  way  through  a  prairie- 
dog  village  unguided,  and  rarely  did  his  hoof  sink  in 
the  subterraneous  traps.  His  best  leaping  was  over  the 
cactus -beds.  These  he  took  with  a  bound.  Dandy 
was  sometimes  lent  to  the  wife  of  one  of  our  officers, 
and  she  rode  him  out  to  the  herd  of  Government  cattle 
where  her  husband  went  on  duty.  She  writes  me,  "  I 
always  started  without  my  stirrup ;  for  it  '  was  up  and 
away '  with  Dandy,  and  I  had  to  find  foothold  as  best 
I  could  afterwards." 

She  was  an  excellent  horsewoman ;  but  her  surprise 
when  Dandy  took  a  huge  cactus-bed  with  one  leap  was 
something  to  remember.  She  said  to  General  Custer, 
"  He  shall  not  catch  me  again  napping ;"  and  he  shook 
and  chuckled  with  amusement,  for  he  had  purposely 
omitted  telling  her  of  Dandy's  little  caper,  knowing  she 
would  be  equal  to  the  situation. 


DANDY.  335 

The  winter's  campaign  had  been  a  trying  begin- 
ning to  Dandy's  career,  but  the  long,  hot  summers  that 
followed  were  a  fearful  strain  on  any  horse.  There 
was  always  much  trouble  about  water  on  the  plains. 
After  the  rainy  season  passed  the  streams  went  dry, 
the  pools  in  the  buffalo  wallows  and  in  the  hollows 
had  disappeared,  and  the  whole  day  of  a  hot  march 
was  spent  without  so  much  as  a  look  at  water,  with 
possibly  the  tantalizing  mirage  floating  before  their 
weary  eyes  all  the  time.  The  strongest  animals  became 
fagged,  their  heads  drooped  with  exhaustion,  and  some 
dropped  bv  the  wav  i^v-dife^s*^^^  *^^^  valiant  Dandy 
kept  up.     &^^^ 

I  do  not  know  whence  came  all  that  inexhaustible 
spring  of  vitality.  In  the  letters  from  old  friends  with 
us  on  the  frontier  that  1  have  received  regarding  Dan- 
dy during  the  past  week  each  one  says,  "  I  never  saw 
him  walk."  He  was  in  all  the  campaigns  of  the  regi- 
ment for  years  —  in  the  first  Yellowstone  campaign, 
in  the  Black  Hills  Expedition,  and  in  the  last  campaign 
into  the  Yellowstone  in  18Y6.  As  they  were  starting 
that  spring  General  Custer  said : 

"  I  must  take  an  extra  horse  this  summer  in  addition 
to  Yic,  for  Dandy  must  be  favored  a  little ;  he  begins 
to  show  a  little  let-down  in  strength." 

In  the  battle  of  the  Little  Big  Horn,  June  25th,  he 
was  with  the  led-horses  and  was  wounded.  After  the 
battle  he  was  sent  home  to  me  in  Monroe,  Mich.,  and 
I  gave  him  to  my  father  Custer.  The  horse,  so  iden- 
tified with  the  three  sons  he  had  lost,  seemed  to  be  a 


336  FOLLOWING   THE    GUIDON. 

wonderful  comfort  to  him.  I  was  afraid  to  ha^e  him 
mount  him,  for  he  was  then  over  seventy,  and  Dandy 
required  every  one  to  be  very  active  who  attempted  to 
use  him  to  the  saddle.  His  journey  of  over  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles  by  boat  and  by  cars  had  not  tamed  him, 
and  I  begged  Father  Custer  to  let  an  officer  then  with 
us  at  least  ride  him  round  the  block.  At  last  he  yield- 
ed, and  off  Dandy  tore  through  the  quiet  streets  to  the 
amazement  of  the  town.  The  old  gentleman  was  un- 
moved. He  said,  "  Daughter,  I  can  ride  him  ;  there's 
nothing  vicious  about  him."  And  he  was  right.  It 
is  my  belief  that  he  had  been  studying  up  his  future 
master.  He  let  him  mount  leisurely,  and  seemed  in- 
stantly to  tame  down  in  gait  and  manner.  Our  father 
Custer  was  rather  bent  in  walking,  but  there  was  no 
perceptible  curve  to  his  back  in  riding.  He  sat  his 
horse  splendidly.  Except  for  his  white  hair  and  flow- 
ing, snowy  beard,  one  could  hardly  imagine  so  many 
years  had  elapsed  since  he  rode  after  the  hounds  in  his 
early  Virginia  and  Marj^land  days. 

After  leaving  the  army.  Dandy  never  surprised  you 
by  unexpected  moves,  and  it  was  not  necessary  to 
watch  for  sudden  veering  to  the  right  and  left.  From 
the  life  of  a  gay,  dashing  cavalry  steed  he  dropped  into 
a  steady-going  family  horse.  The  one  marked  evidence 
of  the  old  life  was  displaced  when  our  father  Custer 
took  him  out  for  parades.  It  soon  became  a  custom 
for  the  towns-people  to  invite  the  old  gentleman  and 
Dandy  to  head  the  temperance  processions,  the  Fourth 
of  July  celebrations,  or  any  sort  of  parade  the  town 


DANDY.  337 

might  inaugurate.  He  and  Dandy  were  invited  to  be 
the  guests  of  Michigan  at  the  State  Fair.  The  invi- 
tation was  worded,  "  For  Father  Custer  and  his  horse 
Dandy."  Tliey  led  the  grand  procession  that  was  un- 
der the  guidance  of  the  marshals  of  the  day.  Dandy 
never  for  one  moment  forgot  his  part.  He  sidled  and 
ambled  and  pranced  in  a  gentle  sort  of  teeter,  suitable 
for  his  aged  master,  but  he  scorned  to  walk  like  an  or- 
dinary every-day  horse. 

The  etiquette,  of  the  past  generation  was  to  attend 
all  funerals,  and  Dandy's  old  master  believed  that  one's 
friends  should  be  just  as  carefully  attended  to  the  grave 
as  to  the  altar.  Dandy  therefore  fell  into  the  slow, 
solemn  line,  and  subdued  his  step  to  the  occasion.  His 
politics  never  varied,  owing  to  an  unswerving  quality 
in  his  old  master.  During  the  last  political  campaign 
his  tossing  head  waved  a  bandanna  through  the  streets 
of  our  town.  If  it  blew  in  his  eyes  and  interfered  with 
his  sight  lie  never  showed  it,  but  bore  the  badge  as  if 
it  had  really  been  what  his  owner  wanted  it  to  be,  a 
plume  of  triumph. 

Whenever  I  went  home  to  visit  them  my  father  Cus- 
ter asked,  as  soon  as  the  welcome  was  over :  "  Daugh- 
ter, w^ould  you  like  to  see  Dandy  ?  If  you  would,  sit 
by  the  front  window,  and  he  will  be  around."  When 
they  appeared.  Dandy  did  all  the  kittening  possible  in 
the  way  of  little  starts  and  flourishes,  affecting  coltish 
airs,  and  pretending  timidity  which  was  purely  ficti- 
tious. This  pleased  the  old  gentleman,  and  he  called 
out,  as  he  waved  his  stove-pipe  hat,  "  You  see  he  isn't 
22 


338  FOLLOWING   THE   GUIDON. 

an  old  man's  horse  yet."  I  could  not  help  praising 
mj  father  Custer's  firm  seat  in  the  saddle,  so  remarka- 
ble in  a  man  between  seventy  and  eighty.  My  gentle 
mother  Custer,  fearing  I  might  plant  the  seeds  of  pride 
even  in  an  old  man,  said, "  Don't  say  too  much  to  him, 
daughter;  old  men  might  get  foolish  about  their  rid- 
ing." But,  nevertheless,  my  home-coming  did  not 
seem  complete  without  the  dress  parade  in  front  of 
the  house. 

During  the  later  years  my  father  Custer  has  lived  on 
a  farm  near  Monroe,  with  General  Custer's  only  broth- 
er. Dandy,  coming  in  and  out  of  town  every  day,  was 
obliged  to  cross  a  bridge  over  the  River  Raisin.  Not 
for  worlds  would  he  go  over  without  a  little  panto- 
mime of  sham  fright.  He  minced  and  hesitated  and 
shied  the  least  bit  in  the  world,  arched  his  neck  as 
if  in  surprise,  and  with  all  these  skippy  ways  looked 
through  the  cracks  of  the  boards  as  if  it  was  the  first 
time  that  he  had  ever  seen  them.  Hearing  Father 
Custer's  voice,  he  instantly  came  down  to  every-day 
manners.  All  the  timid  girls  who  were  afraid  of  other 
horses  were  willing  to  go  with  Father  Custer ;  and 
many  a  happy  mile  has  Dandy  carried  them  through 
the  fragrant  roads  and  fields  about  the  "City  of 
Flowers." 

Even  until  this  year  it  has  been  Father  Custer's 
custom  to  drive  off  to  the  home  of  one  of  General  Cus- 
ter's staff,  and  the  thirty  miles  in  a  day  seemed  as  noth- 
ing to  the  two  veterans.  For  weeks  at  a  time  Dandy 
gambolled  over  a  rich  pasture,  kicking  up  his  heels  like 


DANDY.  339 

a  colt  when  let  into  it,  or  made  himself  comfortable 
without  being  tied  in  a  box-stall,  while  his  master  was 
enjoying  all  the  hospitality  the  house  afforded.  Re- 
turning home,  they  soon  started  for  a  forty-mile  drive 
in  another  direction. 

It  has  been  a  common  sight  in  Monroe  for  years 
past  to  see  Dandy  quietly  standing  beside  the  street 
to  allow  his  white-headed  owner  to  dally  by  the  way- 
side and  carry  on  a  hot  political  discussion.  There 
were  too  many  people  in  the  town  whom  our  father 
Custer  thought  needed  to  be  set  right  in  their  views, 
especially  as  an  election  drew  near.  He  would  allow 
no  one  to  feed  or  groom  his  horse,  and  in  consequence 
of  too  many  oats  the  gmceful  proportions  of  youth 
were  fast  losing  themselves  in  a  real  aldermanic  out- 
line ;  but  I  could  not  convince  our  father  Custer  that 
it  was  not  a  line  of  beauty.  When  he  approached  the 
stable  the  horse  knew  his  step  and  whinnied ;  and  he 
had  the  same  welcome  as  he  came  out  to  get  in  the 
carriage.  The  cars  stand  for  a  time  on  the  track  run- 
ning through  our  town,  and  Father  Custer  once  drove 
Dandy's  nose  almost  into  the  side  of  a  car.  In  alarm 
I  asked  if  he  intended  to  drive  over  or  creep  under ; 
but  he  quietly  answered  that  he  wanted  me  to  see  that 
the  horse  was  not  afraid  of  anything  with  him. 

"  The  boys,"  he  added,  "  had  hard  work  to  hold  him, 
but  he  knows  me  ;  and,  daughter,  I  don't  know  how  I 
could  have  lived  without  that  horse.  He's  been  a  com- 
fort to  me  for  thirteen  long  years." 

On  a  recent  Sunday  these  two  comrades  went  off  up 


340  FOLLOWING  THE   GUIDON. 

the  Raisin  for  a  little  time,  and  all  was  well.  Life 
still  held  one  joj  for  the  two — thej  could  go  out  into 
the  sunshine  together,  for  after  all  the  bereavement  of 
life  God's  beautiful  world  remained. 

On  Monday  no  whinny  of  greeting  met  him  as  he  un- 
did the  stable  door.  For  the  first  time  in  all  his  twenty- 
six  years  Dandy  was  ill.  All  the  simple  remedies  of 
the  farm  were  administered  without  avail.  Two  vet- 
erinary surgeons  failed  to  help  the  suffering  beast.  He 
was  still  the  same  plucky  Dandy.  As  he  never  showed 
a  sign  of  heat,  cold,  thirst,  or  hunger  in  his  old  soldiering 
days,  so  now  he  met  the  suffering  bravely,  only  turn- 
ing his  head  around  to  show  his  appreciation  of  the 
presence  of  the  family  about  him.  As  General  Cus- 
ter's brother  left  the  stall  the  poor  beast  walked  after 
him,  rubbing  his  head  against  him  in  affection.  The 
children  hardly  left  him.  The  mother,  with  all  the 
maternal  tenderness  of  heart,  begged  to  stay  all  night 
in  the  stable,  saying  that  it  seemed  cruel  to  leave  him 
alone. 

All  day  Tuesday  our  father  Caster  never  left  him ; 
and  weeping  with  grief  at  his  suffering,  and  the  sorrow 
at  recalling  all  his  past,  the  old  man  sat  hour  after  hour 
brushing  off  the  flies  and  caring  for  this  beloved  link 
with  the  past. 

At  night  the  family  went  out  at  twelve,  and  poor 
Dandy  followed  them ;  and  looking  over  the  half-door 
of  his  stall,  they  saw  for  the  last  time  his  pathetic  eyes, 
dimmed  but  full  of  devotion.  At  four  in  the  morning 
they  went  again,  and  he  had  fallen,  the  straw  scarcely 


DANDY.  341 

disturbed  about  him,  showing  that  he  had  remained 
standing  until  the  moment  when,  thinking  he  heard 
the  bugle-call  "  Taps,"  his  light  went  out  forever. 

Though  this  veteran  had  no  muffled  sound  of  drum, 
no  volley  fired  at  his  grave,  still  it  was  a  solemn  bury- 
ing. All  day  the  boy  who  loved  him  dug  at  his  grave 
in  the  orchard,  and  the  mother  and  children,  suspend- 
ing work  and  play,  vibrated  between  the  house  and  the 
field  where  the  *' earthly  bed"  of  their  favorite  was 
being  prepared. 

There,  every  year.  Nature,  with  all  her  fidelity,  will 
bury  our  dear  horse  in  a  rosy  shower  of  blossoms  which 
the  apple-tree  scatters  with  the  least  breath  of  the  sum- 
mer wind. 

The  silvery  head  of  an  old  man  of  eighty-three  bends 
lower  this  August  day,  and  it  is  hard  to  take  up  his 
few  remaining  years  without  his  comrade,  the  comfort 
of  his  bereft  life. 


THE   END. 


BOOTS  AND  SADDLES; 

Or,  Life  in  Dakota  with  General  Custer.  By  Mrs.  Eliz- 
abeth B.  Custer.  With  Portrait  of  General  Custer, 
pp.  312.     12mo,  Cloth,  $1  50. 

A  book  of  adventure  is  interesting  reading,  especially  when  it  is  all  true, 
as  is  the  case  with  "  Boots  and  Saddles."  *  *  *  She  does  not  obtrude  the 
fact  that  sunshine  and  solace  went  with  her  to  tent  and  fort,  but  it  in- 
heres in  her  narrative  none  the  less,  and  as  a  consequence  "  these  simple 
annals  of  our  daily  life,"  as  she  calls  them,  are  n«ver  dull  nor  uninterest- 
ing.— Evangelist^  N.  Y. 

Mrs,  Custer's  book  is  in  reality  a  bright  and  sunny  sketch  of  the  life 
of  her  late  husband,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  "  Little  Big  Horn."  *  *  * 
After  the  war,  when  General  Custer  was  sent  to  the  Indian  frontier,  his 
wife  was  of  the  party,  and  she  is  able  to  give  the  minute  story  of  her 
husband's  varied  career,  since  she  was  almost  always  near  the  scene  of 
his  adventures. — Brooklyn  Union. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  no  better  or  more  satisfactory  life 
of  General  Custer  could  have  been  written.  Indeed,  we  may  as  well 
speak  the  thought  that  is  in  us,  and  say  plainly  that  we  know  of  no  bio- 
graphical work  anywhere  which  we  count  better  than  this.  *  *  *  Surely  the 
record  of  such  experiences  as  these  will  be  read  with  that  keen  interest 
which  attaches  only  to  strenuous  human  doings;  as  surely  we  are  right 
in  saying  that  such  a  story  of  truth  and  heroism  as  that  here  told  will 
take  a  deeper  hold  upon  the  popular  mind  and  heart  than  any  work  of 
fiction  can.  For  the  rest,  the  narrative  is  as  vivacious  and  as  lightly  and 
trippingly  given  as  that  of  any  novel.  It  is  enriched  in  every  chapter  with 
illustrative  anecdotes  and  incidents,  and  here  and  there  a  little  life  story 
of  pathetic  interest  is  told  as  an  episode. — N.  Y.  Commet'cial  Advertiser. 

It  is  a  plain,  straightforward  story  of  the  author's  life  on  the  plains  of 
Dakota.  Every  member  of  a  Western  garrison  will  want  to  read  this 
book ;  every  person  in  the  East  who  is  interested  in  Western  life  will 
want  to  read  it,  too ;  and  every  boy  or  girl  who  has  a  healthy  appetite 
for  adventure  will  be  sure  to  get  it.  It  is  bound  to  have  an  army  of  read- 
ers that  few  authors  can  expect. — Philadelphia  Press. 

These  annals  of  daily  life  in  the  army  are  simple,  yet  interesting,  and 
underneath  all  is  discerned  the  love  of  a  true  woman  ready  for  any  sacri- 
fice. She  touches  on  themes  little  canvassed  by  the  civilian,  and  makes  a 
volume  equally  redolent  of  a  loving  devotion  to  an  honored  husband,  and 
attractive  as  a  picture  of  necessary  duty  by  the  soldier. — Commonwealth^ 
Boston.  

Published  by  HARPER  k  BROTHERS,  N.  Y. 

1^"  IIarprb  &  Bboturus  will  send  the  above  work  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any 
part  of  the  United  States  or  Canada,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


By  CAPT.  CHARLES  KING. 


CAMPAIGNING    WITH    CROOK,    AND    STORIES    OF 
ARMY  LIFE.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

A   WAR-TIME   WOOING.     Illustrated   by  R.  F.  Zogbaum. 
pp.  iv.,  196.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  00. 

BETWEEN  THE  LINES.    A  Story  of  the  War.    Illustrated 
by  Gilbert  Gaul.     pp.  iv.,  312.     Post  8vo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

In  all  of  Captain  King's  stories  the  author  holds  to  lofty  ideals  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood,  and  inculcates  the  lessons  of  honor,  generosity, 
courage,  and  self-control. — Literary  World,  Boston. 

The  vivacity  and  charm  which  signally  distinguish  Captain  King's 
pen. ...  He  occupies  a  position  in  American  literature  entirely  his  own. 

.  .  His  is  the  literature  of  honest  sentiment,  pure  and  tender. — N.  Y.  Press. 

A  romance  by  Captain  King  is  always  a  pleasure,  because  he  has  so 
complete  a  mastery  of  the  subjects  with  which  he  deals.  .  .  .  Captain 
King  has  few  rivals  in  his  domain.  .  .  .  The  general  tone  of  Captain  King's 
stories  is  highly  commendable.  The  heroes  are  simple,  frank,  and  sol- 
dierly ;  the  heroines  are  dignified  and  maidenly  in  the  most  unconvention- 
al situations. — Epoch,  N.  Y. 

All  Captain  King's  stories  are  full  of  spirit  and  with  the  true  ring  about 
them. — Philadelphia  Item. 

Captain  King's  stories  of  army  life  are  so  brilliant  and  intense,  they 
have  such  a  ring  of  true  experience,  and  his  characters  are  so  lifelike  and 
vivid  that  the  announcement  of  a  new  one  is  always  received  with  pleas- 
ure.— New  Haven  Palladium. 

Captain  King  is  a  delightful  story-teller. —  Washington  Post. 

In  the  delineation  of  war  scenes  Captain  King's  style  is  crisp  and  vig- 
orous, inspiring  in  the  breast  of  the  reader  a  thrill  of  genuine  patriotic  fer- 
vor.— Boston  Comtnonwealth. 

Captain  King  is  almost  without  a  rival  in  the  field  he  has  chosen.  .  .  . 
His  style  is  at  once  vigorous  and  sentimental  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
word,  so  that  his  novels  are  pleasing  to  young  men  as  well  as  young 
women. — Pittsburgh  Bulletin. 

It  is  good  to  think  that  there  is  at  least  one  man  who  believes  that  all 
the  spirit  of  romance  and  chivalry  has  not  yet  died  out  of  the  world,  and 
that  tliere  are  as  brave  and  honest  hearts  to-day  as  there  were  in  the 
days  of  knights  and  paladins. — Philadelphia  Record. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

\^^  Any  of  the  above  works  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the 
United  States,  Canada,  or  Mexico,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


